


Pocket Knife

by satan_copilots_my_tardis



Series: Signal Flares [10]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reverse Falls, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magic, Minor Character Death, Older!Dipper, Older!Mabel, Sadism, Torture, Unhealthy Relationships, eventual family feels, mixandmatch!Pinecest, reverse!pincest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-04-01 07:22:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 56,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4010917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satan_copilots_my_tardis/pseuds/satan_copilots_my_tardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Wait.” Mabel Gleeful speaks up. “Tell my brother…” She sounds unsure and stops speaking for a moment before she reclaims her resolve and straightens. “Tell my brother to die in a hole.” The entire Pines family turns and looks at her like she’s grown another head but her determined expression doesn’t waver.<br/>“Uh, yeah. Okay, sure. How sweet.” </p><p>So they stopped the apocalypse and that's all well and good but things are never 'normal' in Gravity Falls. Alternate dimensions, sadistic doppelgangers, crybaby demons, incestuous siblings, scrunchies, and a lot of soul-searching are the order of the week while Dipper's just wishing to make it through it all sane and Mabel wishes she'd killed the damn werewolves and avoided the whole situation in the first place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so here's chapter 1 of Pocket Knife, which kind of naturally broke itself up into three parts against my will. If it's not too much trouble I would like to direct you to the outstanding fanart that the lovely jerri-tangerine did for Magnesium Flint! Gaze upon it with your face orbs here: http://jerri.co.vu/post/118485425254/satan-copilots-my-tardis-jerri-tangerine  
> Make note of the tags, welcome to part 3 of the Signal Flares series, and I hope you enjoy.

She raises the cleaver and brings it down forcefully at the wrist. The blade slides through the flesh and the bone makes a loud noise as it fractures. She raises the knife again and swings down hard. This time the metal clanks clean through to the concrete of the basement floor. Mabel Gleeful picks up the severed hand and wrist and drops it unceremoniously into the jat her brother holds out to her. She sets the knife beside the corpse and pushes her long hair back over her shoulder, ignoring the way it sticks to her bloody fingers.

“What else do you need?” She asks as runs her fingers over the tray of blades she’d set out earlier.

“We can never have too many hearts.” Dipper sounds bored. He probably is. Dipper’s never been particularly fond of getting elbow deep in a corpse. Even before they’d come to Gravity Falls he was always happier surrounded by books, as books can’t make messes. Well at least not normal books.

“I don’t know how useful his heart is going to be.” She murmurs as she cuts through the shirt to expose their great uncle’s chest. “It’s probably black and filled with dust.” As she pushes the jacket aside she feels something heavy in his pocket. The young woman wipes her hands off on his clothes before reaching inside. Her finger brush against a leatherbound book and she tugs it out. Her eyes widen with a quick glance at the cover.

“You’re probably right.”  She can’t even remember why he’s agreeing with her.

“Brother,” She looks up to find Dipper standing at their other work table looking at one of his grimoires and he glances over at her when she calls for him. His eye widen too before he comes over and snatches up the offered book.

“Journal 1?” He flips through the pages and she lets him work on that as she turns back to finish dismembering the corpse. “How long has he had this?”

Mabel makes quick work of the incision and with a few practices snaps of ribs she’s prying open the sternum. It’s not hard for her to get to the heart and she cuts it free before scooping it out and setting it on the tray next to her instruments. She gives the lungs a gentle squeeze and savors the soft texture. When she was young she’d toyed with the idea of making lungs into pillows but quickly had to give up the idea when Dipper reminded her about the decomposition that would occur, even if she used preservatives. Still, they’re just so soft and the body is so fresh they still feel warm under her palms.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything else?” She looks over at Dipper and his eyes are glowing blue as he scowls down at the journal. “What’s wrong, brother dearest?” She purrs. Oh how she loves to see him frustrated.

“He had a twin brother. That’s who the author was.” Her amusement evaporates as she rises quickly and moves so she can look at the aged pages over Dipper’s shoulder. “We killed the damned bastard too soon.” Her brother sneers at their great uncle’s corpse. Mabel’s not finished playing yet but she supposes she can just get a new toy tomorrow after their show. She lights the corpse on fire with a snap of her fingers. If she hadn’t done it Dipper would have and burning the bodies is her favorite part. Dipper flips through a few more pages and stiffens. Mabel turns back to him with one eyebrow raised inquisitively. Laughter bubbles up in the younger twin’s chest and echos off of the walls in the dark basement.

“Let me in on the joke, brother dear.”

“It looks like we’re not the only Gleefuls to take an interest in demons.” Mabel’s face lights up as she pulls the book from his hands so she can see the pages. Sure enough Bill’s image stares up at her and she understands Dipper’s amusement.

“I guess we don’t need Stanford to get answers afterall.”

“No we don’t. Bill!” He calls the demon’s name and for a long moment nothing happens. “Ciper, show yourself now or you will regret it.” The demon flickers into existence and lights the room with a dim blue glow.

“I-I’m sorry Master Dipper. I-I was working in the Mindscape.”

“I don’t care what you’re doing. You come when I call.” Mabel watches with a thrill as Dipper curls his hand around the demon’s leg and yanks him down to their eye-level. Dipper’s not as fond of making messes as she is, but something about the demon breaks through all of his restraint. She’s seen him torture Cipher for days without becoming bored. Dipper grips the demon by his side and his hand takes on the faint glow of magic as he squeezes him tightly.  The demon cries out as his form fractures and blood begins to seep out of the wounds.

“Y-Yes Master Dipper! Of course! I’ll do better!” The demon whimpers pathetically and Mabel hums quietly before pushing some of Dipper’s books aside and perching herself up on the worktable. The basement is starting to grow smokey, the air thick with the smell of burning flesh, so she waves her hand and condenses the smoke into a tiny ball before sending it out into the forest. She has to admit that spell might be the only useful thing the demon’s ever taught her. Before she would have to deal with the smell sinking into her hair and clothes and lingering on her skin even after multiple soaks in their tub.

“Yes you will.” Dipper releases the demon who floats a few feet away. Mabel can see him trembling as he presses his hands against the wounds. He makes soft sniffling sounds as he tries to fight back tears. She remembers how he used to cry for them until the demon had realized that it only made Dipper more excited about hurting him. “Now,” he tosses the journal at the demon. “Tell me everything you know about Stanley Gleeful.”

* * *

“Hey Dipper?” The twenty year old looks up as he’s called and sees Grandpa Stanley coming into the living room. He closes the text on the different species of fairies and gives the old man his full attention.

“What’s up?”

“I was looking through journal four and you have a note in here about the giant vampire bats that I just wanted to get clarified.” Dipper’s eyebrow migrates upwards.

“Yeah?”

“It says they got...wasted?”

“You didn’t misread it.”

“Wasted? Really?”

“Yup. I wasn’t personally around for that one. You’ll probably want to ask Wendy or Soos if you want more information.” Stanley’s still looking at the journal as if it’s about to turn into a mouth and laugh at him for buying that story. Dipper has to admit, their generation of mystery hunters had definitely seen more eccentric things in the forest than the Mystery Trio. It doesn’t really surprise him that Lee’s struggling to believe some of the things they’ve seen.

“Seriously Lee?” Grunkle Stan grumbles as he comes to stand by his brother in the doorway. “I asked you to tell the kids that I’m about to open shop, not harass Dipper about the journal.”

“Drunk bats, Ford.” Stanley says in way of explanation and waves off the older man’s concerns. Dipper thinks Stan might actually strangle his brother.

“I’ll get Mable and we’ll meet you in the gift shop.” He says quickly as he gets to his feet.

“Fine.” Dipper chuckles under his breath when Grunkle Stan smacks Stanley across the back of his head. Lee makes an indignant sound.

“Hey!”

“Shut up poindexter, you deserved it.”

* * *

Pacifica stares down at the papers scattered over the kitchen table. Each sheet is immaculately sorted and every black letter glaring up starkly at her from the brilliantly white forms makes her want to scream and tear them into tiny pieces.

“Cupcakes!” She doesn’t even bother to look over at her fiancee.

“No.” The blonde can sense Mabel’s shoulders slumping dejectedly. “We are having a traditional wedding cake.”

“But cupcakes would be so much more fun.”

“We can get the cake glittered and bedazzled tastefully but no cupcakes.” There’s a beat of silence as Mabel considers her offer.

“Deal.” A small smile tugs on the edge of Pacifica’s lips. Mabel drapes her arms around her shoulders and rests her chin on her arms as they look down at the papers together. “I can’t believe it.” Mabel whispers gleefully. “In four months we’re going to be married. You’re going to be my wife.”

“And you’re going to be mine.” The words send a curl of warmth out from the pit of her stomach. “If we ever finish planning.”

“I never realized how much work it would be!” Mabel whines. “Or how many friends we had.” A neon green nailed hand reaches out to pick up their finalized guest list. “We’ve invited half the town.”

“Half the town.” Pacifica echos.

“Are you sure,”

“I’m not inviting them.”

“They’re paying for the entire ceremony.” Mabel counters.

“So that they can pretend to be supportive. Their business can’t lose the LGBT positive customers that their exploitation of our wedding is getting them. Besides they don’t want to come anyway. Father is openly disgusted and mother cried for a day and a half after I told them we were engaged.” Her partner’s arms tighten their hold around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, loser. It’s not you specifically that they have a problem with.” Pacifica takes the guest list and puts it back.

“Hey guys,” Dipper greets as he comes into the kitchen. Both women look over at him and Mabel beams at her brother. Pacifica doesn’t think there’s ever been a moment when Mabel isn’t happy to see Dipper. Though she does have to admit to developing a fondness for the man in the past four years she and Mabel have been dating. There could definitely be worse brother-in-laws. “Sorry to interrupt, but Stan’s about to open the Shack so we’ve gotta go to work.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.” Mabel turns back to Pacifica and gives her a serious look. “We can do whatever you want about them, they’re your parents, but don’t let it get to you. You know you’re better than them.”

“Of course I am.” She straightens her spine and preens a little causing her lover to laugh. “And have you heard anything from your parents.”

“I’m still using mild hypnosis through Skype when we talk. They’re going to think they came to the ceremony without ever leaving their house.”  It’s safer that way. Mabel’s parents have never been involved with Gravity Falls and everyone wants to keep it like that.

“Alright, come here then go to work.” Pacifica pulls her in close so that she can give the younger girl a kiss. Mabel’s lips taste like something sweet and she’s not surprised in the slightest. “Go to work.”

“I’ll see you later.”

“You’d better.” The sweater wearing girl flounces out of the room and Pacifica sets about cleaning up their papers and placing them back into their portfolio. She looks down at the engagement ring on her finger and smiles. Only four months until she adds her wedding band. Her stomach flutters and she’s intensely grateful that no one’s around to see the sappy grin making its home on her face.

* * *

“Go away, sister mine.” Dipper growls as she shoves past him and into his bedroom. She glances around at the immaculate space and as she nears his desk and trails her fingers over the wood before knocking the journal to the floor. It lands with a thud and she’s delighted to see the papers that go scattering out from between the pages. A soft whimper reaches her ears and she turns bright eyes to the demon cowering in the corner.

“Oooh, you’re still playing with our demon? Now that’s just not fair, brother dearest. I think it’s my turn.” She wants to scoop the pathetic Dorito up in her hands and pull off his arms but Dipper curls his fingers around her wrist and squeezes tightly enough that she hears her joints pop.

“I did not invite you in, Mabel.” His eyes spark blue. “I did not ask you to make a mess of my things. And I did not tell you I was finished with him.” Dipper tosses her arm away and Mabel pouts as she readjusts the cuff of her blouse. “Bill’s only just finished telling me about our grandfather.” Mabel’s eyebrows raise and with a mental sigh she realizes that Dipper is not in the mood to be any kind of fun.

“Oh, and what did you learn about this grandfather of ours?” She moves over to his bed and stretches out. She can practically hear her brother gritting her teeth when she deliberately rests her shoes atop his duvet.

“His name was Stanley Pines and he was Stanford’s younger twin.”

“Stanley and Stanford? And I thought the terrible name thing was just something that our parents did to mark you as inferior from birth, I didn’t realize that it was something passed down through the generations.” Dipper sneers at her and she flutters her lashes with a devious smirk.

“Their father prefered Stanley to Stanford and left the fortune to Stanley in its entirety when he died. Our grandfather used some of the money to fund his research of the supernatural and was working with Bill,” Dipper nudges the demon with his shoe. The triangle whimpers again and Mabel swears she hears a tear hit the floor. No wonder Dipper’s so worked up. “To open an interdimensional portal so that they could study other realities together. Stanford saw the opportunity to take back the family fortune and pushed Stanley into the portal.”

“Cold. Even for Great Uncle Stan.”   

“Apparently there’s a Bunker out in the forest that served as a secondary lab. I want to go and see if I can find anything that might have been left behind.” She watches Dipper gather the journal and his notes putting them into his coat pockets before she pushes herself off the bed. “The main lab used to be in the basement but Great Uncle Stan gutted it when we came to Gravity Falls so that we couldn’t ever accidentally activate it and bring back Stanley, if he’s even still alive.”

“That’s what the broken machine is?”

“Yes.” She tugs on the ends of her hair before bringing a long strand to her lips and pressing it there. She catches herself before she actually starts chewing on it and lets it go.

“Are you planning on fixing it, brother dearest?”

“I’m not sure yet, sister mine. I’ll let you know when I’ve made a decision.” She hums. Dipper looks over to the corner of the room and Bill goes very still. He snaps his fingers and a translucent bright blue chain materializes in his hand and connects to the shackles wrapped around Bill’s ankles. “Come on you worthless demon, you’re going to accompany me to this Bunker.”

“Y-yes Master Dipper.”

“Aw, you’re taking him? I wanted to play.”

“You can play with him later.”  Mabel steps into her brother’s space and curls her nails into his cheeks. Her wrist still aches from when he’d grabbed her earlier and she wants nothing more than to sink the french manicured perfection into his skin until she’s scraping blood out from under her nails. Dipper’s eyes flash and she knows he can tell just what she’s thinking.

“Die in a hole.” Mabel whispers in the same voice other siblings might use to tell each other to be careful.

“Burn in Hell.” It doesn’t really matter who moves in first. What matters is how rough Dipper’s hands are as they tug through her hair and how violently his lips press against her own. What matters is the fact that she’s digging her nails into the back of his neck and she swears she feels the tell-tale pop of flesh breaking under her fingertips. What matters is the fact that there’s tongue and teeth and she’s biting open his flesh and tasting their shared blood. Dipper bites her back but not nearly hard enough to pierce her flesh. She runs her tongue gently over his wound to sooth the hurt before pressing against it hard to reawaken it. He hisses against her lips and a giggle bubbles up in her chest before she pulls away. His lip is going to be scabbed over by the time he comes home, she thinks happily. Then she’ll be able to bite it open again. “Vicious.” It’s not a term of endearment.

“Baby.” She licks her lips to catch any crimson that might be lingering on them. “Get lost, goober.” Dipper scoffs under his breath and they both head towards the door.

“Don’t burn down the house, sister mine.”

“No promises, brother dearest.”

* * *

“Ford you’re going to burn everything at this rate.” Dipper snickers as Lee’s comment starts a stream of banter between the two brothers. He watches for a moment as the old men grumbling at each other while they grill before he turns his attention back towards his own task. He puts the cooler at the end of the table as Mabel sets out plates and napkins. She places the bottle of ketchup atop the napkins to keep them from blowing away in the gentle June breeze. They finish up at the table just as people start arriving. Soos and Wendy grin at them as they come around the house holding Soos’s cornhole game.

“Hey dudes.”

“Hey guys!” Mabel beams over at them.

“Hey,” Dipper greets as the two place the game in its usual spot.

“What are the Stan’s bickering about this time?” Wendy asks.   
“Pretty sure Gramps implied Stan didn’t know how to grill.” Both older companions cringe. “Yeah, They’re gonna be at it a while.” Mabel gathers up the blue beanbags in her arms. “Anyone what to play a round?”

“You’re on, Hambone.” Soos and Mabel head off to start their game while Dipper and Wendy sit down at the picnic table to watch. He pulls out two sodas and hands one off to Wendy who accepts it with a,

“Thanks, Dipper.” They sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes. “You have any trips lined up?”

“Not at the moment, but Norman said he’ll call if he gets wind of any more books that could be useful for us.” Wendy stretches and then gives him a smile. “What?”

“You just look good.” His brows shoot up.

“I’m flattered, but I think I would have been more flattered eight years ago.”  That gets a laugh out of the ginger.

“Eight years ago I could make you swoon, lover-boy.” She flips her hair exaggeratedly but still somehow manages to look like a movie star.

“You probably still can.” He admits with a bubble of warmth in his chest.

“Damn straight.” She shoots him with finger guns and he laughs. Mabel cheers triumphantly and they both turn their attention to the game going on across the lawn.  After a few minutes Wendy speaks again. “I just meant that you look like you.” He smiles at her and doesn’t let the comment make the air heavy. He knows exactly what she’s referring to. Bill’s gone, it’s about time the shadow died with him.

“You look like you too.”

“Heh, I don’t think I’ve ever been anyone else.”

“True, though someone else has been you.”

“Yeah, let’s not do that again. I don’t really feel like having to kick my own ass.”

“Fair enough.”

* * *

Dinner eventually gets started and passes with laughter and warmth around the table. It’s only long after the sun has slipped below the horizon that their friends start to leave. Mabel walks with Candy and Grenda to their cars as they chat.

“Hey guys I don’t know if I’ve asked formally yet, but will you two be my co-maids of honor?” Both girls squeal and Mabel’s fully expecting the crushing hugs from both women.

“Of course we will be!”

“Yeah, don’t be stupid!” She grins at her best friends.

“Though I am a little surprised.” Admits Candy after a moment.

“What? Why?” Mabel frowns.

“I just thought that Dipper would be your maid of honor.”

“Don’t worry about that,” she says with a chuckle. “Dipper’s still gonna be in the wedding party, he’s just not gonna be my maid of honor.”

“Oh, does this mean we get to plan your bachelorette party?” Grenda roars with excitement.

“You bet! Ladies I am expecting body shots and attractive strippers of multiple genders.”

“Awesome!”

“We can handle that.” Candy grins and Mabel’s fought a lot of monsters in her time but that little tiny grin makes her shudder.

“I look forward to it.” She says a little warily. The girls get into their cars and Mabel waves to them as they disappear down the drive and onto the main road. A soft laugh escapes her as she wonders if Pacifica’s asked her maid of honor yet.

* * *

“Welcome to the Tent of Telepathy!” He says with false cheer in time with Mabel. They both extend their arms and with a flick of their wrists and some flash paper sparks go soaring from the stage. Their audience gasps. “Ladies, gentlemen,”

“People of all ages and genders,” Mabel picks up where he’s left off as they pace the stage. Dipper grins at a trio of girls sitting on the edge of their seats in the front row and gives them his best wink. He doesn’t need to press on their minds with his magic to make their cheeks flush and their eyes go bright. The adoring crowd makes his stomach turn. “This is my lovely assistant Dipper Gleeful!”

“‘Assistant’? Now I think someone’s getting a little full of themselves.” He beams at the crowd. “However, let me introduce you fantastic folks to my talented sister Mabel Gleeful!” A round of applause goes up as Mabel throws her arms wide and takes a theatrical bow. “So sister mine, what should we start with tonight?” They meet back at the center of the stage and link their arms. Mabel taps her free hand against her chin in false thoughtfulness. He keeps the smile on his face as he contemplates killing everyone in the room. He could do it. He could make the air disappear or open up the ground and make it swallow them whole. He could burn them in their seats or send his dagger through the air so quickly they’d all be bleeding out before anyone could even scream.

“Well I’m all for starting by sawing you in half, but you might need to warm up, eh brother dearest?”

“Haha, well if you want to warm up I’m not going to protest. In fact, how about we consult the classics?” He waves his hand over his head and conjures a top hat. The crowd takes a collective breath. Mabel grins at him and he can see the sharpness in her eyes which is the only trace of her that hasn’t been refined and repolished to suit the audience. She throws up a piece of flash paper which sparks brightly before summoning a thin black wand and catching it, seemingly out of the flames. The crowd gasps before applause fill the air. He grabs the brim of his hat and holds it out between them.

“One, two, three!” Mabel counts as she taps the wand against the hat.

“Abracadabra!” They say together and a flock of doves erupts from the hat and fly around the tent.

“Yikes, it’s probably a good thing we decided to warm up, where’s Lucky?” He turns the hat and shakes it gently. The audience starts laughing and he pretends not to know the reason why.

“I think you’ll find she’s closer than you’d expect.” Mabel says with a laugh and points to his head.

“What?” He pats his head, gloved hand pressing against warm soft fur. He picks up Lucky by the scruff of her neck before pulling her from his head. “There you are!” Mabel taps her with the wand before Dipper lowers her into the hat. His sister taps the hat again too then he turns the hat right side up and shakes it to show the crowd it’s empty. Mabel’s always been the more vocal of the two of them so she takes the lead in getting the crowd worked up.

Dipper hates these shows, has hated them since long before they’d found their amulets and made the show into reality. But Mabel loves to preform. She loves to have all of the starstruck eyes staring up at her and adoring her every move completely unaware that she’s dug through corpses. She likes that she can play the innocent bright-eyed young woman onstage without anyone knowing about the vicious cold-hearted nightmare that he knows she is. They go through the motions and the show goes by with Dipper mostly on autopilot. They don’t even need to perform now that Great Uncle Stan is dead and all of the Gleeful assets have been transferred to them but it makes Mabel happy. His sister is far less annoying when she’s pleased so he lets her saw him in half, straps her up to the wheel of doom and throws daggers at her, parades around in their costumes on stage. It’s worth seeing her acting like a doll as long as he still gets to see her true nature after the show. Mabel grins at him and it’s a little too sharp. He can almost see the blood on her teeth that isn’t there yet. His tongue flicks out to touch the scab on his lower lip that’s only just starting to heal. That smile means one thing. She’s going to reopen the cut as soon as they get offstage.

* * *

He’s right of course. He knows her too well to be wrong. So he lets her push him against their dressing room wall and bite open the cut. She licks up the blood with a hum and he can practically feel her vibrating with excitement. He runs his hands through her hair and presses back against her just as fiercely for a moment before gripping the chestnut locks tightly and yanking her head back. A filthy moan escapes her and for a minute he considers tearing her out of her clothes instead of speaking.

“If you want to get a new plaything you’re going to need to leave now.” She runs a hand over his chest before she taps a finger against the amulet hanging at his throat.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay, brother dearest?”

“Go have your fun, sister mine, I have work to do.”

“You’re no fun, Dipper.” He wraps an arm around her waist before she can go and presses a softer kiss to her lips and leaves a crimson stripe behind. Her tongue darts out to lick it away.

“You can have enough fun for the both of us I’m sure.”

“I intend to.” He releases her and she heads to the door. “Gideon was in the audience today.” He stiffens. How hadn’t he noticed that pathetic marshmallow? “Heh, I didn’t think you saw him. If you want to catch him then you’re going to want to leave,” Dipper’s out the door before she can even finish speaking. He thinks that he hears the mirror shatter as he rushes past but he ignores it.

As soon as he exits the tent there is a crowd approaching him for autographs. He smiles and politely excuses himself, giving their minds a hard shove with his powers to make them leave, before he scans the crowd for the shock of white hair that he’s looking for. Gideon is standing at the edge of the forest and their eyes meet briefly before the little brat is turning and going into the forest. Dipper has to keep his expression composed but he wants to sneer at the other man. He follows Gideon into the forest and meets him in a clearing a couple dozen meters from the property.

“Pines. Did you enjoy the show?” He drawls, trying to hide his fury. Why hasn’t he just killed the brat yet?

“Gleeful. You were laying it on a little thicker than usual tonight. Does that have anything to do with the fact that you killed your great uncle?” Oh yeah, that’s right. He hasn’t killed him because the marshmallow is a clever little shit.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Great Uncle Stanford’s disappearance has caused Mabel and I great distress. We’ve been doing everything in our power to try and find him. The fact that you would insinuate that he’s dead, and even worse, that we were the ones to cause him harm is despicable.” He inflates his voice with indignant fury.

“I’m not wearing a wire tonight.” Gideon scoffs and crosses his arms over his chest. Dipper hesitates a moment before sending out a shockwave of magic which will cripple any electronics within a hundred foot radius. A lot of people are going to be really upset when they realize their phones have stopped working. Gideon doesn’t even flinch so Dipper assumes the brat was actually telling the truth and lets his expression melt into a blank mask. It feels so much better than the false smile he’s been wearing all night. “I knew you all weren’t close, but I never thought you’d kill your own family.” Gideon scowls at him and kicks the dirt. “You’re really an evil person.”

“Why did you come to the show, Pines? If it was just to criticize my extracurricular activities you wasted a trip.”

“Actually I wanted to ask you a question.”

“Ask before I decide eviscerating you is more fun than talking to you.”  He sees a bead of sweat run down the other man’s temple and almost grins. Good, the creampuff is still afraid of him. “Well?”

“Have you noticed anything strange lately, with your dreams?” That catches his interest as his mind turns to the dream demon he keeps on a short leash.

“Be more specific.”

“People haven’t been dreaming as often lately. It started happening gradually, so I don’t think many people have noticed, but there’s definitely been a decline in dreaming in the past year and a half.”

“Hmm.” Nothing particularly interesting had happened with Bill in the past year. Though perhaps he had been calling on the demon for entertainment more now. Apparently he does actually have work to complete within the Mindscape that they’ve been interrupting. “I don’t see how this concerns me. If Cipher’s not keeping up with his work then that’s not my problem.” Gideon scowls at him.

“You’re so full of yourself, Gleeful! Don’t you realize that this could have consequences for the whole of humanity? People need to dream! You arrogant son of a--”

“Pines,” He hisses just to watch the shorter boy pale and take a step back as he remembers exactly what Dipper’s capable of.

“Whoa there, hey now,” the new voice comes from the side of the clearing and both men turn their attention towards Pacifica as she steps into sight. “Let’s not lose our heads, in any sense of the term.” She gives both men a strained smile and raises her hands in a placating manner. “Gideon just wanted to know if you were causing the problem.”

“I’m not.” At least not intentionally. He frowns at the girl in her colorful clothes. She still hasn’t caught up with fashion from the current decade.

“Okay then, well maybe you should look into it. I know you’re not such a nice guy,” she cringes slightly. He knows that she and Gideon have stronger words for what he is. But they’ve called truces with one another in the past and it’s clear that the girl’s not seeking to offend him. “But this could be a cause for concern. Maybe just keep your eyes open?”  He stares at the blonde for a long moment and eventually she starts to squirm under his gaze.

“Why come to me about this? Why not Mabel?” He looks at Gideon. “She’s still more fond of you than I am.” The creampuff shudders and Dipper can’t hide his smirk.

“Mabel’s not as reasonable as you are.” Pacifica answers, stepping in front of Gideon as if that will protect him. “She wouldn’t care about this kind of thing.” True.

“Fine. I’ll discuss the matter with Cipher. Get off of my property.”

“Thanks Dipper.”

“Leave.” His eyes flash the same blue of his amulet. “Now.” The others squeak and scramble away without further hesitation and he watches them go. How pathetic.

* * *

It’s unsurprising for him to find Mabel in the basement when he returns back to the manor. It’s equally unsurprising that she’s carving into a corpse with such tenacity that at this point he can’t even tell the sex of her toy.

“Do you need anything?” She asks without looking up at him and he watches as strands of her long hair dangle in the pooled blood.

“Save the eyes.” He instructs. Perhaps he’ll do a spell to see if the dream anomalies are going to have any lasting effect. “Come to bed when you’re finished.” Mabel does look up at that and gives him a sly grin. That look never fails to make his heart beat a little faster. There’s blood sprayed across her face and her eyes are so bright and thrilled. The blue suit jacket that she’s wearing is stained and her skin looks like porcelain with the contrast of the blood. She must not have made the kill too long ago for the liquid to still be such a vibrant crimson. He knows in a short while the stains will turn rusty and brown and she won’t make nearly as appealing a picture then.

“Of course, brother dearest.”

“Have fun, sister mine.”

He heads upstairs without further words. She’ll be along whenever she’s finished and as much as he likes watching her work he senses that she’d rather enjoy some time alone. The mansion has always been quiet, with only Stanford, Mabel, and himself, but tonight it seems especially striking. The stairs don’t creak as he climbs them and the old house does not shift and moan with the aches that are usual of a place like this, the lack of noise indicative of strict upkeep. Dipper reaches his room and pushes the door open. He’s ready to call out for the demon so that he can interrogate him, but the word catches on his tongue when he spots the creature already in the room.

“Master Dipper,” the creature stutters his greeting. He’s still healing from their conversation several days ago and thin cracks marr his form and make his movements even less enthusiastic than usual.

“Bill. I didn’t call for you.” He raises a brow. The demon can’t enter their minds anymore without permission and it makes little sense for the creature to hang around the manor for no reason. It’s not like Bill looks forward to being tortured. He shouldn’t have turned up before Dipper even got the chance to summon him.

“I-I couldn’t go back to the Mindscape.” The demon says in a quiet voice, curling in on himself as the human approaches the desk where he sits. Dipper looks down at the pathetic blue creature and looks at the wounds he’d inflicted a bit more critically. The cracks that run across his body are deep, impossibly deep, and Dipper thinks if he were to try he could reach inside and his arm would disappear into the infinite cosmos that is concealed within that small geometric form. He hadn’t thought he’d done more damage than the demon could take but if Bill couldn’t even go back home he must have. Dipper runs his finger along the edge of one of the cracks and the demon whimpers. The sound makes him want to scrape his nails against the wound and pry it open further. He pulls back his hand and curls it into a fist that quivers at his side with the desire to break the demon. It’s not a practical desire. He has no use for a broken puppet.

“I was made aware this evening that dreams are becoming something of a rare commodity.”  He takes a step back from the desk and goes over to his dresser. He watches in the mirror as Bill relax a little as he moves away. To have such a powerful creature bound and terrified of him. He takes a deep breath before removing the amulet from around his neck. “Do you have something to do with that?”

“N-no, Master Dipper.” The triangle make eye contact with him in the mirror before quickly directing his attention to the floor.

“Do you know why this is happening?”

“I can’t be sure.” He answers in a small voice. “It’s unusual, but there’s nothing in my Mindscape that would indicate-”

“You’re useless Ciper.” The demon flinches at his tone. God, he never gets tired of that.

“I could try and find--”

“Keep an eye on the phenomenon.” He orders. “If it becomes a clear hazard inform me. Otherwise I don’t care. Do your job.”

“Yes Master Dipper.” The demon rushes to say.

“Good.” He cuts a glance at the creature. “Leave.” Bill doesn’t say a word as he blinks out of existence. Strange. Dipper hadn’t though the demon had enough energy to manage that. Perhaps the demon will be healed soon after all. Then he can break him anew.

* * *

The lights flicker for the third time that night and Stanford grumbles frustratedly. He steps out into the hallway just as Dipper emerges from his room looking equally as annoyed.

“I’ll go see what he’s up to.” He mutter as he heads towards the lab entrance.

“Thanks Grunkle Stan.” The old man just grunts in response as he keys in the code on the machine. It’s like flashing back nearly forty years. Lee practically lived in the lab then and not much has changed now. If anything he’s thrown himself even further into his research than he had before, convinced that there had to have been a reason that Cipher picked this location to enact his plans and now Lee’s determined to find out why. He thinks it’s mostly a crock of shit.

Lee just wants to keep working himself ragged so that he doesn’t have to think about the time that he was banished to that alternate dimension and Ford can’t blame him. It had taken a lot of time to weasel any details from the younger man’s experiences in the other world and none of what he had revealed had been pleasant. For a while Stan hadn’t been particularly concerned about his brother’s coping methods. If studying was enough to give him solace and to tire him out enough to avoid having nightmares then that was okay. He’d rather have Lee up to his eyebrows in books than shut down completely. But recently things have gotten a little ridiculous. Lee’s been working in the lab for nearing fifteen hours a day and the zombie-like shuffle and hunched shoulders that he’d adopted _were_ a cause for concern.

The vending machine creaks open and Stan walks down the steps leisurely. He’s traveled down this familiar path so many times that the short trip seems to edit itself out of his mind completely as he steps into the main lab. His eyes widen and his hands clench into fists at his sides as his heart thuds erratically in his chest, causing his scars from Cipher’s attack to ache. The portal has been reassembled. Again. The sight makes his mouth dry and a hot rush of terror and rage spreads along his spine. Lee is standing at the control panel with his clipboard and jotting something down as electricity crackles through the machine and creates a small blue portal in the center of the room. It’s miniscule compared to the one that had opened above the lake the December before last but it’s still large enough for a person or even a few people to travel through.

“Lee what the fuck are you doing down here?!” He growls as he approaches his brother. Lee looks over at him but his eyes are hidden behind his goggles and he quickly turns his attention back towards the machine in front of them. He types in a few lines of code into the panel and the machine stops its whirring and the portal flickers back into nonexistence in a moment. Lee removes his goggles and returns his attention to Stanford.

“What’s up?”

“When did you rebuild that?” He snarls and Lee almost flinches at the open hostility displayed on his face.

“I’ve been working on it for a while now. Ford, what’s--”

“You’re messing with this again? After everything this family has suffered because of it?!” His brother does flinch at that. Good. He shouldn’t have to remind the younger man of how much this technology has ruined their lives and the scars it’s left on the younger generation. “How could you be so fucking irresponsible?”

“Irresponsible? Really Ford? That’s what you’re going for here? The only irresponsible thing that I’ve done in researching this technology is by not understanding it. If I had paid closer attention to this, if I had been more dedicated to understanding the science behind it instead of just reveling in the fact that I could create it, all of this might not have happened.” It’s obvious his brother believes what he’s saying and Ford doesn’t think the urge to clock the chump has ever been stronger.   
“Understanding this tech doesn’t equate to reopening dimensional portals underneath the house, Lee! Especially after the kids banished Cipher to an alternate dimension after he tried to kill us all and destroy the world.”

“I’m not an idiot, Ford. I warded the portal against demons, Bill can’t come back through this gateway, not even if he’s got an organic body.” He gestures at the portal absently as he sets down his clipboard. “Besides, aren’t you a little more surprised at how easily I was able to open the portal?” He cleans his glasses furiously. “I should have knocked out the power to the entire town but I didn’t. I should have needed more toxic waste than anyone besides the government have their hands on, but I’ve got the last drops from the last barrel you brought in almost two years ago. Doesn’t that seem strange to you, Ford?” He bites out sarcastically. Oh, Stan was mistaking earlier, _now_ he’s never wanted to clock the poindexter more in his life. His gut twists and sinks as he acknowledges his brother’s words. He’d spent thirty-seven years looking at the blueprints and constructing the portal. What Lee’s saying he’s done should be entirely impossible. But he’s doing it.

“Fuck.” He curses under his breath and runs a hand through his hair. Lee looks a little smug at that and if his brother doesn’t wipe that look from his face in the next _five seconds_ Ford’s gonna do it for him. “That’s strange and bad, but it doesn’t mean you should be messing with this. You know better than anyone that screwing around with forces you don’t understand is more likely to get you hurt than to unlock the secrets of the universe.” He scowls. “Dismantle this thing or I’ll do it for you.” The older man turns back towards the lab entrance and stalks off without another word. God damn it Lee.

* * *

“Good morning!” Mabel saunters through the side door and into the kitchen where the rest of her family is shuffling around like zombies. Her hair has been looped up in a stretchy headband in a style that Pacifica had disdainfully referred to as hippy chic. The white lace tank top shows off the summer tan that’s clinging to her skin after one too many afternoons lying out on her and Pacifica’s balcony and her jean shorts are splattered with paint and splotches of glitter glue. But anyone who might have noticed her exuberant mood are too busy shuffling about like zombies to pay much attention to her arrival. Dipper’s just as useless as Stanley in the morning and both men are sitting at the table nursing their coffee in sleepy silence. Her brother gives her a half-hearted grunt of a greeting and her grandfather gives her a thin smile before he goes back to sipping at the liquid in his mug.

Mabel rolls her eyes and turns her attention instead to Grunkle Stan who’s standing at the stove. He’s usually grumpy in the morning, but at least he’s awake enough to actually form words, even though those words are usual ‘be quiet’ or-when he’s really being a crotchety old man-‘fuck off’. His shoulders are drawn tight and she sees in the near violent way that he flips the omelette that he’s furious. She closes her mouth, the realization of Stan’s mood killing her greeting. The woman glances back over at Dipper who’s trying valiantly not to fall asleep at the table. He sits loose limbed and relaxed with his hair mussed in a way that speaks of sleep rather than running his hand through it anxiously. So he and Stan probably haven’t argued recently which leaves Stanley. She studies the newest addition to her family with a critical eye. If he’s distressed about arguing with his brother he does an incredibly good job at hiding it. Stanford finishes at the stove and carries three plates over to the table, grumbling as he passes her.

“Morning. Toast is on the counter.” She smiles at him and goes to pick up the small plate with Nutella smeared bread before turning her attention back towards her boys. He sets Dipper’s food in front of him and sets his own at his customary place before he drops the third plate with a loud clatter in front of Stanley. Oh yes, she thinks as she munches on her toast. Stan is infuriated with his brother.

“So I was thinking that I could do a tour of the forest today.” She offers as a conversation starter. No need to come right out and interrogate the Stans.

“Probably a good idea.” Stanford grunts as he stabs at his food. Dipper’s starting to wake up by now and watches their Grunkle for a moment with concerned eyes before looking over at Mabel. She indicates with a subtle tilt of her head that Stan’s anger seems to be directed at their grandfather. He raises a brow before he too focuses on the interaction, or lack there of, between the two brothers. “I’m gonna have Soos take a look at the electrics to see if we can stop those pesky power surges from the lab.” His fork scrapes against the plate with a screech and the youngest Pines cringe. Stanley sighs into his coffee.

“You’ve made your point, Ford. Just give me a few more days and I’ll make sure that the machine doesn’t draw power from here anymore.” Grandpa Lee adopts a far off look that reminds Mabel of Dipper so acutely that it makes her chest ache a little. “Maybe I can reroute the generators from the Bunker to the lab.” He hums thoughtfully and then he’s lost. Mabel holds up a hand and begins to count down silently from five. Dipper snickers around a bite of eggs when he spots her. As she reaches zero Stanley picks up his plate and scrapes the remainder of breakfast into the garbage and places the plate in the dishwasher. “Thanks for the food.” He says absentmindedly as he exits the kitchen.  The younger pair of twins turn their attention back towards Stan and stare at him intensely until he looks up from his plate.

“What?”

“Seriously? What was that all about?” Dipper asks as he sips at his mug and then frowns. Before he can ask Mabel has picked up the coffee pot and brought it over to the table. “Thanks.”

“You were straight up nasty to Grandpa. What are you two arguing about this time?” Stan scowls at his food.

“Lee’s back to experimenting on the portal.” Dipper’s spoon clanks against his mug loudly at the old man’s words. Mabel feels the same shock as him.

“What? Isn’t that, I don’t know, _dangerous_? What if he falls in again?” She asks incredulously.

“What if something gets out?”  

“That’s what I said.” Stan says loudly as the kids validate his concerns. “But he’s convinced that he needs to keep up his work since he’s able to open the portals so easily now.” Dipper stares into his his mug for a long moment and Mabel can practically see the gears working in his skull.

“If he can open the portal without blacking out the city or creating large scale destruction it _is_ something we should be concerned about. But…” He tugs his hand through his hair and taps his foot against the floorboards. “It’s dangerous. We don’t know what repeatedly opening an interdimensional portal will do in the long term. What if it becomes self-sufficient?” **  
**

********

“What if Cipher claws his way back into this reality?” Stan snaps, voicing everyone’s concerns. “I doubt he’d be looking to kiss and make up.” It’s a low blow but Dipper doesn’t retaliate and Mabel grits her teeth but follows his lead. Grunkle Stan is never going to lose his hostility for the demon, not that she doesn’t agree with that sentiment, but when he takes out his aggression on Dipper it makes her want to--. No. No more thoughts like that. She clenches her fists a few times before shoving her hands into her pockets. She can still feel the demon’s tongue wriggling in her hand and slick with blood if she thinks about it for too long. No more violence. Especially not towards her family. That’s not what she wants to become. “He’s says he’s got it warded but,” It might not be enough. Mabel and Dipper share a glance.

“I’ll see what more I can find out about warding.” He offers.

“I’ll go take a look at what Grandpa’s got set up already and strengthen what I can.”

“What?” Stan raises a brow.

“Like I said Lee’s probably right about needing to study these anomalies but he’s being reckless. We’re gonna make sure he stays safe.”

“It’s all about compromise. Go get dressed you two, the Shack opens in forty-five. I’ll go take a glance around the lab.” She and Dipper fistbump before she heads out of the room. Stan might still not be one hundred percent happy with the arrangement but it’s the best they can do. Even if she hates the portals and even though she knows Dipper hates them just as much he’s too practical. This is a mystery that could become dangerous if left unsolved. So he’ll put his own feelings aside until the issue resolves itself. Her heart squeezes a little. He’s too good for the lot of them.

The lab is humming with energy as she makes her way down  through the space. The portal is set up in the largest branch of the area but it remains empty. Mabel wanders through the few other areas until she finds Stanley working in the generator room. She walks with louder steps, letting her flipflops make their customary snap snap against the concrete floors to make him aware of her presence. She knows that he still startles easily and after thirty seven years of fighting for his life she understands why he’s always on edge. No need to make him uncomfortable just yet.

“You here to yell at me on Ford’s behalf?” He doesn’t look up from his work as he speaks and Mabel leans up against the doorway.

“Nope.” She hears him snort a little.

“But you are going to yell at me?” He must hear her annoyance in the tone of her voice. For only having been around for a year he’s become able to read her just as well as Dipper and Stan. Sometimes that drives her up a wall.

“Yeah.” Stanley finally sighs and turns to face her. “What were you thinking researching this on your own? Are you stupid? Do you know how dangerous this is? I know you do so I really don’t understand why you would risk your safety and the safety of your family by doing this without talking to any of us beforehand.” It’s not so much yelling as it is adopting Pacifica’s calling out bullshit tone and using it to the best of her ability. “Did you think we were going to stop you?”

“Well,”

“Nope, that was a rhetorical question. We wouldn’t have. We would have urged you to be more careful and to let us take a look and lay down any safety precautions that we could. Which is what we’re gonna do now, but if you had told us sooner you probably wouldn’t be on Grunkle Stan’s shit list right now.” Lee sighs and his shoulders slump a little.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Sorry.” Only in their family could it be considered normal for the youngest generation to chew out the oldest about responsibility.

“It’s whatever.” Mabel shrugs. “Show me what you’ve set up.” He leads her back to the main lab and indicates several wards, specifically preventing the passage of demonic energy through the portal. “I think we should cast a wider net.” She murmurs as she traces two fingers along the engraved symbols. “Bill used a human once to break wards, there’s no telling if he’d try it again.” She hums quietly as she reaches deeper than the physical plane to touch the web of magic running through the machine. It feels similar to her amulet that she wishes she had now. She’s been trying to cut back on using it for the past several months and now Pacifica carries it with her for safe keeping. “Maybe we can ward it so only Pines can use it. I’ll run it by Dipper and text Pacifica to bring my amulet over after work and we’ll see what we can do.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Okay, until then, please don’t mess with it.” She rolls her eyes. “And you’re probably gonna want to do something about Stan before he comes down here with a sledge hammer.” Stanley gives a short chuckle. Neither of them would put that past the oldest man. “Alright I’ve gotta get upstairs and get set up for work.”

“Thanks Mabel.” She smiles at him but it doesn’t reach her eyes. A part of her is furious with the old man, both him and his brother, for causing a whole new mess for them to deal with. Dipper’s been doing so well since the apocalypse incident. He doesn’t need to suddenly have the threat of Bill’s return hanging over his head. But she can’ give into that kind of anger. She’s trying to be better and she refuses to let herself fall so low again. Mabel climbs the steps until she’s entering the gift shop and tucks the anger away. No need to let anyone see it bubbling away under her skin.

* * *

“Thanks for visiting the Mystery Shack, come back soon.” Mabel smiles and waves as the last customer exits the shop at a snail’s pace. Dipper holds his breath as the door swings shut behind them before swooping in to turn the lock and flip the sign to closed. Both he and Mabel give a sigh of relief. “Not that it’s a bad thing that we’re getting business, but can I just say _damn_. We’ve gotten really popular lately.” His sister comes out from behind the counter so that Stan can tally profits and lock up.

********

“I know, it’s weird.”

“If you two keep looking a gift horse in the mouth then I guess you wouldn’t be thrilled about getting a raise.” Stan grumbles from the register, causing both siblings heads to swivel around at an alarming rate.

“What?” Dipper gapes.

“A raise?”

“Really Grunkle Stan?” They say in unison. Mabel’s eyes narrow as she stares at the old man.

“Who are you and what have you done with our Grunkle?” Stan snorts.

“I’ve been thinking about it. We are doing well this quarter but we’ll see.” The old man turns back to the register. “I’ll finish up in here, you two see what you can do about that monstrosity that chump built.”  Dipper looks over at Mabel and shrugs before they head towards their room. Well. It’s not really their room anymore, Dipper thinks with a hint of sadness. Shortly after Mabel’s broken arm had healed she had moved into Pacifica’s apartment and now the room belonged to Dipper alone. To be honest he hasn’t really made the most of it, his things still only occupying half of the space, and Mabel’s bed still sitting across from his own. Eventually he’ll have to take it out but he’s in no rush and the fact is that the Shack is still the headquarters for Team Mystery and more than once has someone injured needed the extra bed.

“Bed.” Mabel says dreamily before flopping down on her old mattress face first. Dipper rolls his eyes as he moves towards his bookshelves and starts combing through the titles for anything that might be useful for their task. He tosses a few sturdier texts onto his own mattress as he works a pleasant silence falling over the room.

Mabel’s watching him. He can tell. She’s not even turned around to face him, but he knows that he has every ounce of her attention. God sometimes he thinks that the separation is going to make them less attuned to each other but every time something is bothering him she knows. She knows everything about him and lately he’s feeling more and more out of touch with her. His hand pauses over the spine of a book on exorcisms. That’s his own fault though. After everything that happened with Bill their friends and family thought that he needed space and that any accidental mention of the demon would send him into a spiral of depression. No matter how often he protested the treatment and insisted that he was okay they still walked around on eggshells. Maybe he hadn’t been operating at one hundred percent after the near apocalypse but he really had been in the ballpark of okay. Now he’s better, good even, but no one believes him. Mabel’s still trying to protect him, just like she always has, and Dipper doesn’t think she’ll ever let him really see the effect that's having on her. She’s gone through more trauma than him but she locks it up tight all so she can protect the people she loves. He wishes he could come out and say something. He wants to find the magic words that let her open up to him, that let him understand, that help her in whatever why he can.

“Did you find what you’re looking for?” He realizes he’s been holding still for far too long. Mabel’s tone tries to be casual but he knows he’s caused her concern. There he goes, making it worse again.

“No, not yet.”

* * *

The sun has set without them making any real progress on their work. Even with Pacifica, who had joined them at around six when she’d brought Mabel her amulet, helping them out nothing useful has turned up in their search. Dipper makes a frustrated noise and puts away the book he’d been using.

“Sometimes I wish we could just Google this shit.” Pacifica mumbles. She’s sitting with her back against the headboard of Mabel’s bed with his sister’s head in her lap. Mabel flips through her book and makes a soft sound of agreement. “We should make a digital catalog.” Dipper and Mabel both turn to give Pacifica their full attention.

“What?”

“You know, scan all our stuff into a computer and organize it. Then we’d just be one click of control F to get any information that we need.” There’s a stunned silence for a moment and Pacifica looks uncomfortable. That’s…. How have they never thought of that before?

“Babe, when did you get so smart?”

“That’s a great idea, Pacifica.” Dipper agrees with his sister’s sentiment. “We’d have to ward that too so that it couldn’t fall into the wrong hands, but that’s a fantastic idea.”

“Whoa there bro bro,” Mabel throws a pencil at him. “I can see you’re brain kicking into overdrive. We’ve already got one project to worry about, put that one on the backburner.”

“Right, sorry.” They work again for a few more minutes in silence.

“This is boring.” Mabel finally groans in exasperation before tossing her book aside and throwing an arm over her eyes. “Why can’t I just make a spell up!?”

“Well, couldn’t you?” Pacifica asks as she strokes her fingers through the younger girl’s hair. Dipper kind of loves seeing them like this. All of Pacifica’s sharp edges melt away and Mabel relaxes in her presence more than he’s seen her do since they were fifteen. They’re just good for each other that it makes his heart ache.

“I can’t just string together random Latin and wave my hands and hope magic happens, sweetie. If that worked we’d have a lot of psychotic eleven year olds running around screaming about going to Hogwarts.”

“You’re not an eleven year old obsessed with wizards, loser. Like it or not you and Dipper actually are witches at this point. Witches can make spells.” Pacifica flicks Mabel’s nose which causes his sister to frown. “You said that half of magic is intent. Take a look at some of the normal warding spells, figure out how they work, and then cast them with your own intent. Maybe that’ll do the trick.”

“Mabel it’s a really good thing you’re already marrying her.” Dipper says as he climbs out of his bed to pick out a few books on magic fundamentals. “Because I would sell you to her for marriage if it encouraged her to keep being clever for us.”

“You guys would have thought of it eventually.” Pacifica shrugs. “You just get too wrapped up in your own heads sometimes to see what’s right in front of you.” Dipper doesn’t know exactly when Pacifica got close enough to him to be able to tell that but he supposes he shouldn’t be surprised. She’s family after all. His phone rings loudly in his pocket and he pulls it out with a quick glance at the caller ID.   

“Hey Wendy, what’s up?”

“Hey Dipper, are you and Mabel busy?”

“We’re working on a small project with Pacifica but it’s not life or death.”

“Tell Wendy I said hi!”

“Mabel if you shout like that I’m sure she can hear you through the phone.” He rolls his eyes as Wendy laughs.

“Well do you think you guys could head up to my dad’s lumber mill? He says he’s got some kind of spooky-doo for us to deal with.”

“Sure, any idea what we’re looking at?”

“Something big and with claws was all he could tell me. It could be Gremloblins.”

“Great. We’ll be out there as soon as we can.”

“Thanks Dipper, Soos and I will meet you there.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.” He hangs up and turns his attention back to the two girls in the room. “So who wants to take a break?”

“Finally.” Mabel shoves the books away from her and sits up with renewed energy.

“And fight a possible Gremloblin?” His sister groans loudly before slumping back again.

“Really?”

“Really really. Wendy said her dad’s been dealing with something large with claws at the mill. He wants us to take a look.”

“Okay.” Mabel sighs and turns back to Pacifica. The blonde pulls on the long chain hanging around her neck and the amulet appears from under her shirt. She removes it from the necklace and hands it off to Mabel who immediately reattaches it to her headband. Dipper picks up his backpack that’s slumped in the corner of the room before he straps his dagger to his thigh. “Let’s go fight some monsters.”

“I never thought that would be a normal thing to hear someone say.” Pacifica sighs as they exit the room.

“One of the perks to being engaged to a witch.” Mabel says cheerfully.

* * *

“What the fuck!?” Wendy screams as she dodges a swipe of claws.

“This is not a Gremloblin!” Dipper shouts back as he tries to throw up a shield around her. Soos, and Pacifica. “I think werewolf covers it better!”

“Have we ever dealt with a werewolf before?” Mabel asks over the roar of the wind. The storm had been brewing since early in the evening and of course, as soon as they needed to be outside, the rain had started pouring over them in buckets. Her feet squish in the mud and she cringes at the mucky feeling seeping up between her toes. And she’s still wearing her white tank, great, well at least he can show of her neon bra to the monster of the week. She snorts as she sends a blast of energy to knock the creature back.

“I don’t think so.” Dipper responds as he continues to shield everyone. “But think back to lore that’s probably an innocent person trapped in there.” He says it in a purely informative tone but she knows exactly what he’s trying to convey with that statement. This monster is also a person and if she kills it she’ll have murdered someone. Lightning cracks overhead as the monster charges for her. She sidesteps its gaping maw and presses a flat hand against its side. The energy that bursts forth from her palm sends the creature flying into the trees, cracking several large evergreens as its body slams into them. The werewolf growls and whines before it gets back up. Mabel grits her teeth. She can’t fight it at full strength without dealing lethal blows. Cold rain pelts against her skin and her fingernails bite into the skin of her palms as she tries to rein in her bloodlust. If only she could stun it.

“Everybody get back into the car!” She orders.

“What? We can’t let it just run loose, hambone!”

“Get in the car!” She shrieks, the words shot through with power. No one questions her this time and they pile into Dipper’s car which is sitting just marginally closer to the battlefield than Soos’s. The monster charges for her and she jumps out of the way, wrapping herself in magic to push herself from the ground and stay hanging in the air. “Keep the doors shut!”

She’s never done this before but there’s a first time for everything. Mabel waits until another bolt of lightning is cracking across the sky before she reaches out with her amulet to grab it and redirect it into the soggy earth. Heat crackles across her skin and she nearly blinds herself as she forces it to strike nearby the wolf monster. It howls in agony as its body spasms but it doesn’t last for long. In an instant the lightning is dispersing and the energy is gone. The werewolf slumps into the mud and lays still, soft whines escaping its throat. Mabel stretches her awareness into the ground before she lands, to make sure that the electricity is completely gone. She kneels down next to the monster and she can see that its body is beginning to change. Hopefully back into human form.

“Okay, you guys can come out now.” She calls back to the car. The creature's limbs shrink and the dark fur recedes and it lets out a pitiful howl. Bones snap and pop as they realign themselves into something distinctly human and soon Mabel is looking at a dark skinned woman with mud caked over her naked body. “Somebody bring a blanket or something!” She instructs them. “Hey, you’re going to be fine.” She says softly. The woman squints her eyes open and looks up at her.

“W-what happened?”

“Well you tried to kill me and my friends so I made lightning into the world’s largest stun gun. I tried to keep the intensity down but you’re probably going to be sore for a while.” The group comes over then and Soos hands her a blanket. Mabel helps the woman sit up and wraps the fabric around her.

“I…” She groans and presses her hand to her temple. “My head.” Mabel moves out of the way so that Wendy can check the woman over.

“Lightning as a giant taser, that was,” Dipper searches for words. “Inspired, Storm.”

“Thanks.” She grins back.

“Hey,” Wendy gets their attention. “She’s going to be fine, but we should probably take her back to the Shack so she can rest.”

“Okay. I’ll take her and ride with Wendy and Soos.” Mabel says logically. If the girl goes wolf again she’ll be able to subdue her or if her condition worsens Wendy will be able to take care of her.

“Okay.” Wendy helps the girl up. “My names Wendy this is Soos and Mabel, we’re going to take care of you. What’s your name?”

“Daliah.” Mabel looks at the girl with a critical eye. She has to be about Wendy’s age.

“That’s a pretty name. We’re going to take you back to the Shack, it’s kind of like our headquarters, so that you can get some rest. Do we need to worry about you wolfing out on our way back?”

“N-no. I’m so sorry.” Soos opens the car door and Wendy helps Daliah climb in. Mabel slides into the seat next to her and buckles the woman in when she sees her hands are shaking too badly to do it herself. Daliah goes limp against the seat as Soos head in the direction of the Shack. “Did I hurt anyone?”

“No.” Mabel answers and pats the woman’s hand gently. “Just a few trees.” That seems to break the other girl as fat tears roll down her mud stained cheeks. She melts with the relief.

“Wait, was I alone?” Ice slithers down Mabel’s spine.

“Were you not supposed to be?”

“My brother, he was with me, you didn’t find him-”

Something large and snarling smashes against the driver’s side door. They swerve off the road and Mabel can’t throw up a shield quickly enough so the airbags do their job.

“Parker!” Daliah calls out but her voice is still weak. Mabel curses under her breath as she tries to unbuckle her seatbelt. Her forehead hurts from where it smashed against the headrest on impact and she burns her seatbelt away when it won’t release her. A bruise is already blooming purple across her chest. She forces the door open and gets out of the car as quickly as she can and slams it shut as quickly as she can when she sees Daliah is trying to follow her.

“Stay in the car!” She shouldn’t have looked over her shoulder. A large paw slams into her side and knocks the wind out of her. She feels her ribs crack as she’s sent flying through the air. The landing is even more painful than the initial blow. She rolls along the asphalt and feels it tear through her skin. Blood mingles with the rain still falling and for just a moment the pain is so intense that it makes her stomach roll. Mabel pushes herself back up. She’s had worse. The wolf is about to attack the car again so she reaches out for the closest tree, ripping its roots from the ground, and throwing it at the creature. It knocks the monster a few feet back but doesn’t seem to hurt it. If she thought Daliah’s from was large she had truly underestimated how just how large a werewolf could be. Daliah had towered two feet over Soos but Parker is easily as tall as a Manotaur. The wolf snarls at her and sprints forward. Fuck. She barely dodges the attack. For all the height and muscle the wolf still moves more swiftly than she would have predicted. It’s smarter too.

The monster doesn’t let her get her footing long enough to cast a spell and pursues her all across the, thankfully empty, road. Her side aches and she can feel her anger working its way through her veins like a toxic sludge. She wants to rip his limbs off. For a split second she can feel how warm the blood would be as it sprayed over her body and it sends tingles all the way down to her toes. Mabel catches the thoughts and her nausea comes back in full force. She screams when the creature gets its claws around her middle and slams her into the ground.

“Mabel!” She can hear Dipper open the car door.

“Get back in the fucking car Dipper!” She snarls as she feels her skin part under the monster’s claws. “Do it right now you idiot!” She can’t wait any longer to make sure he’s actually listened to her but she prays that he has. The lightning flashes across the sky and her amulet glows as she yanks it into the ground. She and the creature scream together as they thrash as electricity courses through their bodies. Agony. This is true agony. She’s never been in this amount of pain before. Blackness rushes up at her and she sinks into it greatfully. Anything to escape the pain.

* * *

The power goes out halfway through Baby Fight and Stan snarls at the TV frustratedly as he gets up and heads to the gift shop. Lee is coming up out of the lab Ford’s only able to see him because of the emergency lights that are illuminating the portal.

“Before you ask, I did not do that. It must be the storm.”

“Fine.” He turns on his heel and heads towards the backup generators that they’d installed a few months ago in the outdoor cellar.

“Ford.” Lee follows him as he tugs on his coat and heads out into the rain. “Ford, seriously, can we just talk for a second?”

“Fuck you.”

“Okay. Look I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the portal. I should have, but I was worried that you wouldn’t approve.”

“Damn straight I don’t approve.”

“I know that Ford.” He can practically hear Lee rolling his eyes. “But look, this research has to be done. I don’t like it anymore than you but no one else can study this so I have to. I’ll be careful, and I’ll try and finish it soon, but I’ve got to keep going.” Ford turns the generators on and his hand pauses over the machine. He takes a deep breath.

“You’re a fucking moron, Lee. Nothing good is ever going to come from that machine, but if you’re so dead set on it then _fine_. Study it. But if you fall in again I’m not going to spend another forty years trying to get you back just to say ‘I told you so’.” That wrings a dry chuckle out of his younger brother.

“Deal.”

* * *

The energy surge is violent in its intensity. The machine roars to life with electrical popping sounds and sparks fly from the control panel as it overloads. Reality tears open and snaps shut rapidly a few times and shakes the earth, the storm disguising the ruckus with the sound of thunder. The portal bursts to life one final time and is blindingly blue as is screeches. It spews a dark shape out before the circuits blow and it collapses in on itself smoking. The figure stares up at the broken machine from the floor. What just happened?

* * *

“Mabel!” Dipper jumps from the car as soon as the electricity stops crackling across it and sprints over to his sister. Wendy falls in step beside him and their knees hit the ground at the same time. Pacifica is next to them in the next second and if Dipper wasn’t panicking he’d be amazed with how quickly she’s able to run in five inch heels.

“She’s bleeding. Dipper apply pressure to her abdomen.” Wendy instructs as she checks Mabel’s vitals. He immediately removes his hoodie and presses the cloth to Mabel’s lower side tightly. Her chest is still moving and her eyelids flutter slightly as rain continues to pelt against their skin. At least she’s still alive.

“Move.” Pacifica shoves him and replaces his hands with her own. He wants to ask her what the fuck she’s doing but her blue eyes are steel “I can do this. You have werewolves to deal with.” Dipper’s protests get caught in his throat and he turns wide eyes to Wendy.

“She’s breathing fine but her ribs are already really badly bruised, so they’re probably cracked. Her shoulder’s pretty torn up from hitting the ground, that’s going to need some antiseptic, but it should heal on its own.” She quickly moves the hoodie out of the way to get a good look at Mabel’s side. The blood is hardly trickling out now. “These are going to need stitches but I can handle that at the Shack.” Wendy looks back at him and her expression is determined. “She’s going to be alright Dipper.”

“Take her amulet and go back with Soos and the girl. Wendy and I will take Mabel in your car.”

“I--”

“Come on Dipper.” Pacifica snaps. “You’re the only other person who knows how to use it, so you’re the only one who can deal with any more rogue mutts that we might come across on our way back. We’ll take care of her. You know that.”

“Okay. Yeah, okay.” His voice cracks a little before he looks up at Soos who’s joined them. “Help me get him to the car.” Soos throws his jacket over the collapsed man lying close by before they pick him up and maneuver him into the car.

“Parker!” The wolf woman cries out as they push him into the backseat beside her.

“He’ll be okay.” Dipper reassures her absentmindedly. If she woke up from the lightning taser then he should too.

“I’m going to help them move Mabel.” Soos informs him before jogging back to the girls. Dipper doesn’t say anything as he sits in the car with the two werewolves. His mind is blank and it takes him a long time to realize he’s shaking. Soos’s door slams shut as he gets back into the car and puts it in gear. No one speaks as they speed down the darkened road towards the Shack.

* * *

“Those two are werewolves, take care of them.” Dipper instructs the Stans absentmindedly as he follows Wendy and Pacifica into his bedroom with Mabel still unconscious in his arms. Pacifica sweeps the books from earlier off of the bed and onto the floor so Dipper can set his sister down. Wendy’s already got the first-aid kit from the bathroom and takes to cutting off Mabel’s shirt immediately.

“Get me a bowl of warm water.” Wendy orders and Dipper’s heading towards the kitchen before he realizes exactly what she’s said. He fills the bowl as quickly as he can and grabs a few dark towels from the closet on his way back to his room. By the time he’s back in the room Wendy’s gotten Pacifica to start picking out debris from the wound on Mabel’s shoulder and the small rocks are making a soft sound as they hit the top of the nightstand.

“Here.” Wendy takes the bowl and the towels, selecting a washcloth, before she starts to gently wash away the dirt and blood that’s crusted around the three slashes across Mabel’s side. It doesn’t take her long to clean up the wounds. The redhead makes a soft sound in the back of her throat as the looks at the injuries. The wolf’s claws must be incredibly sharp to create such precise slashes. Dipper’s handing her the suture kit before she can even ask for it. She peels open the packaged needle and threads it quickly before starting in on the stitches. Pacifica finishes up with Mabel’s shoulder and cleans up the area before spraying it with an antiseptic. Dipper helps her to press thick gauze against the wound and wrap it while Wendy works. Mabel’s making little noises now, though her eyes remain shut. Pacifica runs her hand through Mabel’s hair gently and shushes her. Time passes, Dipper’s not sure how much time it is, but it passes and then Wendy is done stitching and wrapping Mabel up. She administers a couple of painkillers to Mabel, gently coaxing her into swallowing the pills while unconscious, before she looks up at the other two in the room.

“It doesn’t sound like she’s got a punctured lung, so I’m gonna say we can hold off on taking her to the hospital right now. But if anything changes we’re going.”

“Okay, thanks Wendy.” She reaches over to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“I’m going to check on Daliah and Parker. I’m sure one of you will shout if you need me.” She heads out and shuts the door behind her. He and Pacifica sit in silence for a few long minutes both of them just staring at the limp form in the bed. Dipper tears his eyes away from Mabel to look at her counterpart. Pacifica is staring at his sister’s face and hold one of her hands tightly within her own. Her shoulders are set and her posture is impeccable as she sits on the edge of the bed. She looks like she’s been carved from marble.

“How do you deal with this so calmly?” He blurts without meaning to. Pacifica has always tried to maintain her distance from monster hunting it’s only once in a blue moon that she goes adventuring with them. But somehow she’s managed to keep her cool like she’s done this a thousand times before. Pacifica turns her gaze towards him and her eyes soften, just slightly, around the edges. She mulls over her answer for a minute or two before she finally speaks.

“I knew what I was getting myself into.”  Dipper snorts a little before they fall back into silence. He’s a thousand miles away by the time Pacifica speaks again. “Hey Dipper, I’ve  been meaning to ask you something for a while now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Their eyes meet again and for the first time since arriving back at the Shack the blonde looks nervous. Dipper’s stomach flips as he waits for her question.

* * *

Stanford is pacing back and forth in the living room by the time Wendy comes back. Stanly stands and they both stare at her with wide worried eyes.

“I’ve done all I can, she’s doing alright for now, but if anything changes we’re going to the hospital.” Ford squeezes her shoulder gently.

“Thanks kid.” The redhead gives the old man a small smile.

“No problem. I gotta look after my friends.” She looks around the room and finds Daliah and Parker sitting together on the couch. They’ve been cleaned up and given some clothes from the gift shop. Their hands are clasped tightly together and they’re shaking slightly.

“She’s really okay?” The man asks in a small voice.

“Yeah, she’s going to be just fine.” Tension drains out of his shoulders and he slumps against his sister’s shoulder.

“Thank god. I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” Stanley turns on a tape recorder as Parker begins to speak.

“Maybe you could tell us what happened. We’ve never seen werewolves in Gravity Falls before.”

“Y-you haven’t?” Daliah turns wide eyes on them. “But you don’t…. You seem like you know how to handle...this?” She waves her hand at herself and her brother.

“We’re kind of the resident town mystery hunters and monster fighters when we need to be.” Soos shrugs.

“You’re new around here, aren’t you?” Lee asks and the siblings nod.

“We thought that this town would be a safe place. We heard rumors of monster running free in the forest and thought that we would be able to stay here. We didn’t know that there was a mill so close by. We would have picked a different area if we had.” She sounds so desperate to make them understand and her entire body is quivering.

“Hey, it’s okay, calm down.” Lee tries. “Hey,” He turns to ask Ford to get them something to drink but his brother is already coming back into the room with two steaming cups of tea.

“Here, drink this.” That seems to break something in the young pair and both of them are fighting back tears. “Whoa, its just lemon and ginger tea. If you don’t like it you don’t have to drink it.”

“No, it’s just,” Parker clears his throat when his voice cracks. “You’re being so kind to us after we tried to _eat_ you.”

“Trust us,” Wendy snorts, “we’ve had a lot worse. Besides it’s obvious you two aren’t monsters so we’re not going to treat you like one.”

“How often do you turn? Is it only on the full moon or is it something you can do on command?” Stanley asks as he opens up journal four and begins a new page about werewolves.

“Both.” Daliah says softly. “We can shift whenever we want and remain in full control, but we have to shift on the full moon and that’s when instinct can take over.”

“But we can’t shift at all on the new moon. If we had run into people any other night none of this would have happened.” He promises the mystery hunters. “Next month we’ll be more careful, we promise, just please,” His eyes flash bright amber as he curls an arm protectively around his sister.

“Down boy.” The Stans and Soos all turn to Wendy with exasperated expressions. She shrugs unapologetically. “They’re wolves and I’m not going to miss out on the opportunity to make dog jokes. We’re not going to hurt you. Maybe we can help you find a safe spot in the forest for you to shift.”

“When Mabel’s back on her feet I’m sure she’ll be able to set up some wards to make sure that humans can’t come near you. That way you won’t have to worry about hurting anyone else.”

“Sounds plausible.” Ford agrees. Thunder shakes the house as the storm rages on. “But there’s nothing else we can do tonight.” He turns to say something to Stanley but the other man is already packing up his recorder and the journal.

“I’ll go get the spare cots.”

“You two staying the night?” Ford asks of Wendy and Soos.

“Yeah, I want to be here incase something happens with Mabel.”

“It’s a good thing we converted the old wax figure room into a guest space.” Soos says absentmindedly before heading off to help Lee set up the extra beds.

“Are you guys going to turn again tonight?” Stan asks the wolves.

“I don’t think we could if we wanted to. That lightning...it really shut down our systems.”

“What lightning?” He asks incredulously.

“Oh yeah, uh Mabel might have used lightning to act as the world’s largest taser and when she zapped Parker she might have hit herself too.” Wendy tries to say as casually as she can.

“What?!”

“She’s fine. There aren’t any burns or heart irregularities that would be indicative of her being hit with a dangerous amount of voltage.” Wendy pats his shoulder. “But I’m staying to make sure she’s okay. Nothing we can do now until she wakes up.” Stan grumbles unhappily but lets it go. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.” She leads the two guests out of the room and Stan sighs. Never a normal day with these kids.

* * *

Mabel Gleeful slides out of her brother’s bed at around three in the morning. Dipper’s already gone and she assumes his insomnia had pulled him away earlier than usual. She stretches and shivers at touch of the cold hardwood under bare feet as she walks over to his closet. She takes out one of his dress shirts before she locates her undergarments from the previous night and her skirt and redresses. Her shoes are sitting by the door from where she kicked them off and she pulls those on as well before running a hand through her hair and setting off down the hall. If Dipper’s not in bed then he’s probably working. She makes her way down into the basement and is surprised to find the room empty.

Her heels clack against the concrete as she walks through the lab. No one. Not a single trace of her brother. The candles at his workstation haven’t been burned recently and all of the organs that she’s harvested for him over the past few weeks are still in their jars. She looks through his papers and the books lying around and makes a soft sound of understanding in the back of her throat. The first journal is gone. That must mean he’s gone with Bill to the Author’s mysterious Bunker. Well he can have fun gallivanting around the forest in the middle of the night with a pathetic demon then. She’d rather be enjoying her mattress thank you very much. The brown haired girl scoffs quietly before turning to head back upstairs. The heavy sound of machinery whirring to life stops her and she turns back to the large machine that had been lying dormant for the past four decades.

The portal machine sputter a few time and Mabel takes a few steps closer. She’s not the best with technology but she knows that the machine shouldn’t be trying to turn itself on. Especially since she can see the powerlines have been cut. That’s probably bad. The portal sparks bright blue and she takes a few steps back. This is probably very bad. She opens her mouth to call out for Bill, knowing the demon will be able to get a message to her brother, and might even know how to shut down the portal when electricity arches away from the machine and hits her square in the chest. Agony. Some mixture of a scream and a laugh is torn from her throat as he vision goes black around the edges. Her legs fold underneath her and she hits the concrete hard. The portal begins to swirl violently creating a wind in the room which sweeps up the loose papers and ends them flying through the air. It’s only then she realizes that she’s being pulled towards the portal. Her hands glow blue and she sinks her nails into the ground in an attempt to keep still. It does her little good as she’s yanked back into the blue vortex. She doesn’t even have a chance to scream before everything goes blue.

* * *

Mabel pushes herself off of the ground with shaking limbs. That was painful. Her hair is in disarray and she pushes it back and adjusts her headband with a scowl. What just happened? Where is she? She looks around the room. It looks like their basement but she knows it’s not. Dipper’s workstation has been replaced with machinery and the portal behind her looks to be in good condition, and she guesses, fully operational. She forces herself up to her feet and looks around the room a bit more critically. Atop one of the control panels she spots a collection of picture frames and she immediately moves over to inspect them. Her heart jumps a little when she takes a good look at the images.

That’s her and Dipper. They sit with Great Uncle Stan in a fishing boat wearing ratty clothes and tacky hats and they’re all smiling. That’s her and Dipper graduating. That’s all three of them sitting on the steps of the Pines’ awful Mystery Shack drinking Pitt Cola. She picks up the final picture and holds onto it tightly. It’s an image of herself, Dipper, Great Uncle Stanford, and a man she knows must be their Grandfather. The four sit together again on the front porch of the Mystery Shack and they are all smiling at the camera. She looks at the pictures a little more critically. This can’t be them. None of these things have ever happened and that girl wearing her face isn’t actually her. Her hair is cut short in the majority of the pictures and she wears brightly colored sweaters and tank tops. The amulet that adorns her headband is pink or purple, she can’t quite tell from looking at the pictures, instead of blue. This isn’t her family.

She puts the pictures down and looks over the rest of the papers on the desk. Most of it appears to be research notes that she doesn’t really understand. She moves a stack aside and her heart stops at what she finds behind them. The journal. Stunned she mentally corrects herself. The _journals_. Numbers one through three. Mabel sinks into the chair and picks up the first and begins to read. These books have always helped them to understand what they were dealing with in the past. Perhaps it will offer her the same insight now.

* * *

“We can’t say how sorry we are.” Parker apologizes for the twentieth time in the past ten minutes. Mabel keeps smiling but all she really wants is for the wolves to go away. She’s not really angry about the incident but her ribs are aching like hell and she really just wants to be left alone to die at the moment and they’re preventing her from doing so.  

“Seriously, this is no big deal. We’ve had a lot worse. Don’t even worry about it. We can get together sometime soon and talk about making sure it doesn’t happen again. Besides I did hit you both with lightening, so let’s just call that even.” Neither of the wolves look like they’re going to stop apologizing anytime soon and she mentally groans.

“Mabel still needs to rest. How about I give you a ride back to your home?” Pacifica offers, swooping in like her own personal superhero. “You said that you live in an apartment in town right?”

“Yes, but we couldn’t trouble you,”

“Nonsense. I’m sure you two could use some more rest too. Let me drive you home, just give me a minute with my fiancee.” Her voice is sweet as honey and Mabel sighs gratefully when the wolves leave the room. “I was two seconds away from turning them into fur coats.” She mutters bitterly as soon as they’re gone. Mabel laughs a little and cringes at the way it jostles her ribs. “Do you need more painkillers?”

“No, I’m full up. Besides Dipper said that he’ll try his hand at some healing spells after he gets me some food. He might not be able to do much but hopefully he’ll be able to get me back on my feet.”

“Okay, I’ll be back soon.” She presses a kiss to mabel’s forehead, the each of her cheeks, and then finally her lips. Mabel melts under the gentle touches and beams up at the blonde when she pulls away. “Love you, loser.”

“I love you too.” Pacifica heads out of the room and Mabel sighs before lifting her hands to inspect the burns there. Apparently they’d gone unnoticed last night while she was bleeding out, but this morning Wendy had seen the second degree blisters and wrapped them up. No more elemental manipulation then. She doubts she would have any hands left if she’d messed with the lightning once or twice more. Mabel slumps against the pillows stacked at her back and closes her eyes. Everything is aching and it occurs to her this is the most severely that she’s been injured since the lake and once again she’s going to have to heal the slow way. Dipper might be able to get her well enough to be on her feet again, but she still going to be injured. She presses a hand against the stitches on her side. She’s going to have a scar no matter how good Wendy’s work was. She guesses that she’s gotten a little spoiled with all of the instant healing over the past several years. Someday she’s going to just be a mess of scars if they keep this up.

* * *

Mabel Gleeful eventually puts the journals aside. Interesting. An alternate reality where they were the Pines, the mystery hunting do gooders. That’s certainly a change of pace. Well she supposes if they are as determined and clever as their exploits seem to say they might be able to get her back to her own reality. She has no desire to stick around in this filth for longer than she has to. Mabel rises from the desk and heads towards the service elevator across the room and hits the button that will bring her up to the main floor. As the doors shut she laughs quietly to herself. Still, she might as well have a little fun while she’s here.

* * *

Dipper holds a glass of Mabel Juice in one hand and a plate of toast in the other as he heads back towards his bedroom. It’s early afternoon but after the night that they had he thought it was best to let his sister sleep in. Pacifica passes him on her way out and waves goodbye as she goes with the wolves in tow. He just sighs as he heads back to the bedroom. Mabel’s alright. He keeps having to reassure himself of that but the knot in his stomach doesn’t go away. None of them have been this badly hurt in a long time. He’d almost forgotten how bad it could get and how many times they’d been on the verge of death in the past. They’ve gotten too complacent in the past year. He rounds the corner and almost runs into the person moving towards him.

“Sorry, Stan-! Mabel?” He’s stunned silent for a second. “What are you doing, you can’t be out of bed!” Dipper goes silent immediately after speaking. This isn’t Mabel. The girl standing in front of him has all of Mabel’s features, her button nose, rosy cheeks, long graceful limbs, and the strange hairs that always stick up from the back of her head. But she’s different. Her hair is long and hangs down her back in gentle waves, her eyes are sharp and accented with dark shadow, thick mascara, and winged eyeliner, and the amulet that adorns her headband is blue instead of marbled pink, grey, and purple. “Who are you?” Not-Mabel had been inspecting him with calculating eyes but now she looks back at his face.

“Short, aren’t you?” She hums with a small smile curling at the edge of her lips. A chill slithers down his spine and he clutches the items in his hands tightly. A shapeshifter? No, there had only been one and Bill had killed it years ago. A doppleganger? Plausible, though neither the current Mystery Twins or the original Mystery Trio had run across one in the past.

“Who are you?” He repeats forcefully. If that amulet isn’t just for decoration he doubts that he’ll be able to take her. Hell his Mabel can still kick his ass bare handed and he’s liking his chances of going up against this girl less and less.

“Mabel Gleeful, I need your help.” He doesn’t drop the glass but it’s a close thing. There’s a beat of silence as he tries to open his mouth a few times to speak but he can’t find any words. What? Gleeful? _Gleefu_ l? He swallows hard as he tries to wrap his mind around the statement. The woman in front of him rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. “I was sucked into this dimension through that portal machine in the basement. I would like to return home as soon as possible.” Okay. Okay, that explains that. Okay. Jeez this Mabel sounds like a brat, almost like Pacifica did back in the day. Wow.

“Uh, why don’t you go to the living room. I-I’ll get everyone together and we’ll talk this out.” He expects her to move but she doesn’t. “What?”

“I don’t live here, or in a place like it in my reality.”

“Okay?” She heaves a deep sigh.

“Which way is the living room?”

“Oh, _oh_ , sorry, I just, sorry.” He shakes his head. Wow he hadn’t even thought of that. “Right, okay, it’s down the hall and the first door on you left. Make yourself comfortable.” Without another word not-Mabel heads down the hall and Dipper continues on his way back towards his bedroom. He shoulders open the door half expecting Mabel to not be in the room. She’s down the hall miraculously healed with a head full of hair extensions waiting to Kerprank him. But alas as the door swings open Mabel’s still sitting in bed looking paler than usual with dark circles under her eyes and bruises across her body. She gives him a lazy smile as he comes in and sets the food and drink on the nightstand beside her.

“What took you so long bro bro?”   

“Oh, you know the usual. I just ran into alternate dimension _you_ in the hallway. No big deal.” He sounds a little hysterical which is fitting because he thinks at this point he is a little hysterical. Mabel laughs at first and then cringes and curls a hand around her ribs.

“Ow.” She moans pathetically and then gives him her best puppy eyes. “Don’t make me laugh until you’ve healed me a little.”

“Not joking, Mabel. Alternate dimension you is sitting in our living room.” His palms start to sweat and he wipes them off on his jeans before pressing gentle fingers against her ribs. “Ossa coeperat fulciretur. Tollis dolor.” It’s not the best work and he knows that Mabel’s not in fighting shape but it will sooth the worst of the pain. It’ll get her back on her feet at least. Mabel sighs in relief before she acknowledges what he said before.

“What? Me?”

“She said she got sucked into the portal. She wants us to get her home.”

“Really? Like you’re not screwing with me while I’m hopped up on pain meds, right?”

“She said her name was Mabel Gleeful.” He instantly feels bad when his sister’s face contorts. Any mention of Gideon makes her stomach turn sour as she remembers their last encounter with the man.

“I guess it’s possible.” She murmurs before slowly swinging her legs out of the bed. “Different dimension means different versions of reality which means different us’s.”

“Mabel, are you sure you’re,”

“I’m okay enough for this. Come on I want to meet my doppleganger. Imagine the charm bomb that will go off when there’s two of me in one room.” He sighs, seeing that she’s going to get to the living room one way or another, and puts an arm around her waist to help her walk. She drapes an arm around his shoulders and they shuffle towards the door together.

“She’s kind of rude actually.”

“No way.”

“Seriously. She’s like young Pacifica.”

“No way!?” She repeats incredulously.

“Way.”

* * *

Sure enough there’s a woman, who looks nearly identical to her, sitting in the living room. She’s lookin around with a small sneer on her face that is filled with the smug superiority of someone who’s come from money and can’t understand how common folks live without it. Mabel stares at the girl for a moment as she and Dipper pause in the doorway. He looks at her when he hears her sharp intake of breath. She gets a read on this other girl instantaneously. She’s dangerous. The way she holds herself isn’t just because of her socioeconomic class which has to be way up there-Being engaged to Pacifica has granted her the ability to identify high end  fashion on sight and those pumps are no less than six hundred dollars, no way this Mabel Gleeful could afford them without serious financial backing.-No, she sits like oil on a dark lake, fluid and relaxed, her toxicity going unseen by the laymen. But Mabel knows. This other her doesn’t kill like she does or like Stanley had. She kills for entirely different reasons and it’s written all over her. How hadn’t Dipper seen that?

“Uh Mabel, this is Mabel?” That’s going to get confusing. Dipper helps her over to the chair across from the other woman and she slumps into it gratefully. “I’m going to go get the Stans.”  He darts from the room and she wants to say something, to warn him just how dangerous this girl is but the words get caught in her throat. She turns her gaze back towards the other her and they stare at each other for a long moment.

“What happened to you?” The woman’s voice doesn’t sound particularly concerned or indifferent, just curious.

“Werewolves.” Her counterpart’s eyebrows raise. “Dipper said your last name was Gleeful. Why would you marry Gideon?” She has to know as the memory of his severed head flashes across her vision. The other Mabel looks outright offended by her words.

“I dated the creampuff for a week when we were twelve I didn’t marry him.” She tugs her fingers through her long hair. “My given name is Gleeful.”

“Oh.”

“I take it yours is not?”

“Yeah, no, uh, Mabel Pines. We’re the Pines family.” A stamped approaches the room and both women turn to spot the Stans rushing into the room.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Stanley says breathlessly as he looks back and forth between the two women.

“What did you think I was lying?” Dipper gripes from behind them. Gleeful stares at the old men with open shock and they stare back at her. “Uh Mabel, this is Stanford and Stanley.”

“Your grandfather was never pushed into the portal?” She asks. Stanley’s body language immediately closes off and Mabel stiffens in defense of her grandfather.

“We got him back.” Stan snaps his surprise evaporating into hostility in an instant.

“I see.’ She sounds skeptical but quickly turns her attention back towards Dipper. “Do you have any idea how to send me back home?”

“We have a working portal, and we’re thinking the lightning storm from last night was what set if off without us knowing. We had our hands a little full.” He glances over at his sister who’s watching her alternate self with a calculating look that she only adopts when she believes that they’re being threatened. Great. So Gleeful-Mabel is dangerous. Fabulous. “We don’t know how the portal got locked on your dimension though and we don’t know if it still is.” Dipper moves into the room and sits on the armrest of Mabel’s chair while the Stans still loiter in the doorway.

“I don’t know much about interdimensional travel.” The other woman admits. “And in my dimension Stanford gutted the machine before Dipper and I first came to Gravity Falls. We’re not in possession of the same kind of technology.”

“Well the fact is we don’t really understand how it works all that much. We knew that people could get sucked in but it didn’t really occur to us that there would be different versions of ourselves running around in those worlds. Like I said we don’t know if the portal is still connected to your dimension and if it’s not we don’t know how to change that.” Mabel chews the inside of her cheek at the same time as the other Mabel presses a lock of hair to her lips. “Don’t do that you’ll get split ends.” Dipper immediately says and then pales slightly. He feels Mabel stiffen in the chair beside him and the alternate Mabel drops the hair immediately and looks at him with wide eyes. He looks at the carpet between them. It’s been a long time since he’s said that to anyone. An uncomfortable silence falls over the room. The Stans glance at each other, not entirely sure why the mood has suddenly turned so melancholy. Lee clears his throat.

“We’re going to have to do some research, but we think we’ll be able to get you home. We just don’t know when that will be. The machine wasn’t entirely our design and like Dipper said, we don’t fully understand it. But we’ll do our best.” Mabel Gleeful turns her attention to him and he sees dead things in her dark brown eyes.

“I have someone who knows a thing or two about unconventional science. Do you think his expertise could help you?”

“I suppose, but I don’t know how you’re going to contact him.”

“Unless you have an interdimensional cellphone.” Their Mabel snorts. The other girl sneers at her.

“Of course I do. You do to. It’s strapped to your head you imbecile.”

“Wow rude.” Mabel crosses her arms and scowls. “Amulets are _intra_ dimensional conduites not _inter_ dimensional conduites.”

“To be honest I still don’t know the difference.” Dipper cuts in when both girls eyes start to glow as they glare at each other.

“The amulets gather up energy from within the existing dimension. It draws in energy from the naturally occurring portals in the world.” Mabel tells him absentmindedly. “ _Inter_ dimentsional energy is far too volatile for any human to use and is power that exists between dimensional planes.”

“Unless you use intradimensional power to carry your voice between the worlds. Like using a megaphone. A normal caster could shout into the void without effect but we can communicate.” Wow. He keeps thinking he’ll stop being surprised by other-Mabel’s air of superiority but it just keeps coming back like a boomerang.

“So you can call for your friend?” The long haired woman huffs quietly and wrinkles her nose as if he’s said something amusing and insulting all in the same breath.

“We’ll find out.” The amulet begins to glow blue as well as her eyes and she takes a deep breath. Her voice vibrates with power as she speaks one simple clear word. “Bill.”

* * *

Panic. That’s all there is to it. Blind panic rushes up Dipper’s spine, it burns in the back of his throat and it makes the inside of his skull ache. His heart hammers in his chest and his limbs are suddenly shaking with adrenaline. He jumps up from his seat before anyone else can react. He doesn’t know exactly what he was planning on doing. He can’t really make her take back the word but he can’t just sit there. There’s nothing to fight and he can’t run so he stands rooted to the ground with terror, and misery, and excitement, and _hope_ burning up inside him and gnawing at his organs. A small burst of wind kicks up around the room and he vaguely realizes that Mabel’s stood up as well and her hands are glowing.

“What did you do!?” She shrieks at her counterpart who has adopted a look of vague confusion as the twins react so strongly. The color is sucked out of the room for a minute, converging into a triangular shape on the far wall before reality snaps like a broken rubberband and everything returns to normal. Except for the demon who now hovers across the room. Dipper’s breath catches in his throat as he looks at the demon.

It’s not their Bill. Of course it’s not. Why would it be? That’s not the Bill they know. The feeling that floods through him and leaves him weak isn’t relief. It almost feels sickeningly like…. He swallows hard. He’s not still grieving that bastard. He’s not. He won’t. But seeing this new Bill calls up a maelstrom of memories that he’d rather not let eat away at him. This Bill is the same bright blue of Mabel Gleeful’s magic. His eye is wide and frightened and he shakes silently as he floats over towards the other Mabel. His tophat is beat up and it looks like he’s got cracks running across his form. Dipper frowns at that. Their Bill had never shown any physical imperfections.

“M-Mistress Mabel?” The demon says in a warbling voice.

“Good you heard me. I got sucked into this reality, can you take me back home?” The demon looks around the room and when he spots Dipper he stares with his eye widening. It makes his stomach turn as they stare at each other. Not-Mabel must think it goes on for too long because she yanks on the demon’s bowtie. “Answer me when I ask you a question, Cipher.”

“Y-yes Mistress!” The demon wriggles in her hold but his gaze slips back towards Dipper in a second. Other-Mabel’s mouth curls into something between a sneer and a smile, or perhaps it really is just a truly vicious smile, Dipper can’t tell and he doesn’t linger over it for too long because all of the sudden she’s burying her hand in Bill’s _eye_. The demon screams and it’s horrible and for a minute Dipper thinks he’s going to be sick.

“Bill!” He doesn’t realize he’s spoken until after the word has left his mouth and he regrets it immediately. This isn’t their Bill and no matter what version of the monster it is he knows he shouldn’t feel any concern for his safety. He clenches his teeth tight as the demon bleeds. He’s never seen Bill bleed in demon form. His skin is clammy as he realizes how beautiful the demon’s blood is. It’s like he’s bleeding out the night sky. The liquid is black and dusted with stars that twinkle in the darkness. It’s breathtaking.

“I’m still waiting.” Mabel Gleeful says while pulling a handkerchief from the pocket of her skirt to wipe the blood from her fingers.

“I can’t.” The demon gasps as he presses his hands to the gaping hole that was once his eye. “You entered this reality through a portal that demons cannot touch. You’ll have to leave the same way.”

“Pity.” She doesn’t raise her hand to the creature again and Dipper’s chest loosens a little. Not-Mabel turns her attention back to the Pines and notes that they’re all pale as sheets. She raises a brow at them. “I suppose we’ll have to work something out here then.” She doesn’t even look down at the demon when she addresses him next. “You’re bleeding all over their couch, useless demon.”

“A-apologies.” The demon snaps his fingers and the blood is as gone as his eye.

“You ripped out his eye.” Stanford never had any particular fondness for the demon but even he sounds a little sickened as he says it.

“It’ll grow back in a few minutes.” Mabel Gleeful says absentmindedly. “Do you have anything useful to contribute to this discussion, Stanford?” Grunkle Stan’s cheeks flare with anger and Dipper doesn’t want to say anything to stop the old man from laying into the girl but apparently Mabel does.

“Can...Bill help us at all?” There’s a beat of silence as the other woman stares at her counterpart.

“Answer her.”

“It’s dangerous for two of you to exist in the same reality.” Bill says quietly. “It should not be like this. The universe will try to correct what it sees as an error.”

“What you’re saying sounds an awful lot like the world is going to try killing one of us to restore balance to the cosmos.” Mabel says a tad warily.

“I-it probably will Mistress Mabel.”

“Uh, please don’t call me that.” He sees his sister shutter. “Just ‘Mabel’ is okay.”

“I don’t particularly feel like being deleted by the universe.” Gleeful says blandly. “What can we do to prevent that?” Bill hesitates. “You eye will reform in three minutes, would you like to still have arms when that happens?”

“I cannot return you home, but I could still take...Mabel out of this dimension and return her in your place.”

“That sounds like a ridiculous plan.”

“Trust us, “ Mabel mutters. “We’ve had worse.”

“Mabel you’re injured you can’t just go off to another dimension.” Stanley points out sensibly.

“My brother will look after you and Bill is perfectly capable of healing your wounds.” Gleeful waves away the concerns. “It’s not ideal but dying is even less so.”

“But how will I get back? I don’t want to spend forty years in an alternate dimension!” She cringes as soon as the words are out of her mouth. “Sorry Grandpa Lee.” The old man waves off the comment.

“Done that and trust me you’re right, you do not want to try it.”

“I can take you between the dimensions at will. You can return home whenever you’d like although the danger of being killed would remain as long as my Mistress also inhabits this reality.”

“This still sounds like an exceptionally shitty plan.” Dipper says quietly.

“Exceptionally.” His sister agrees with slumped shoulders. “I need to call Pacifica and pack a bag.”

“She’s going to kill you.”

“I know.” Mabel says mournfully.

“If you’re stuck here I guess I should show you the guest room.” Stan mutters. “Follow me.” The other Mabel stands and follows their Grunkle and Dipper doesn’t even realize that he’s been left alone in the room with the dream demon before it’s too late. He turns his gaze back on the creature who stares back with a wide eye and feels his heart stutter in his chest. Oh no.

* * *

Blue Bill stares at him with his newly grown eye and the air between them grows heavy. The mark on his chest throbs petulantly and he resists the urge to press his hand against the scar. He doesn’t know what he should say to this creature that looks like a monster and his former lover all wrapped up in one he’s not even sure he wants to have a conversation with the creature.

“Pine Tree,” The nickname hits him like a bolt of lightning and his knees go weak. He clenches his hands into fists at his side and straightens his shoulders. They stopped Bill. They stopped him and Dipper’s not still in love with the creature so why does this hurt so much? “That’s what he called you, right?”

“‘Dipper’ would be better.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, that, that was inconsiderate of me. It must bring up bad memories for you.” Bill wrings his hands nervously and the human has to take a few deep calming breaths. This isn’t their Bill. He’s probably not going to try and kill them all.

“You know about our Bill?”

“I can see every version of myself across all dimensions and universes.”

“So you know what happened here?”

“Yes.” There’s an awkward pause. “I’m very sorry if my appearance caused you distress.” It makes his insides feel like wriggling snakes to hear the demon apologize to him so he waves off the words.

“Look, don’t apologize about it. Everything that happened here, it wasn’t you. So let’s not talk about it like it was.” Dipper snaps and the demon flinches. “Can you just tell me something?”

“What?”

“Does everyone make it back to their own dimensions at the end of all this?” There’s a long pause and Dipper wonders if answering that question is going to rip apart the fabric of reality.

“Everyone gets home in the end.”

“Okay.” A little tension drains out of him. At least he doesn’t have to worry about Mabel being trapped somewhere else forever out of his reach. He couldn’t live without her. “Can you answer one more question for me?” The demon nods. “I don’t know exactly what your version of Mabel and I think they have over you, but I know that you wouldn’t fall victim to them of anything but your own free will. You’re too powerful for anyone to get a leash on you but you came running when she called and you let her hurt you. Why?” Blue Bill seems startled by his question and immediately glances at the door as if he’s scared someone will overhear them. He presses one hand against the cracks running over his body.

“I--.” He pauses and looks back at Dipper with a wide earnest eye. “I can’t just leave them all alone.” Dipper recoils like he’s been slapped just as fury lights up along his spine.

“They’re torturing you!” He snarls. “And you care about them?”

“He tried to kill you.” Bill says very softly and all of the fight goes out of the human in an instant. “But you still cared about him.” Bill’s glow dims slightly and he speaks with a quiet passion. “They’re bad people, the worst, but they’re _mine_. They’re always mine no matter what reality. I won’t just leave them all alone.” His chest tightens too much and Dipper doesn’t know how long it takes him to figure out how to breathe.

“And they don’t know?” The words escape him like they’ve been punched out. Bill smiles at him in that strange no-mouth way.

“Lost Star’s going to call for me in a minute. I should go.”

“Bill!”

“Coming Mistress Mabel.” He blinks out of existence and Dipper sinks down to the chair. He swallows hard and tries to regain his composure. That’s not his Bill and whatever is going on with him and the alternate versions of he and Mabel isn’t his problem. They just need to worry about getting Mabel Gleeful back home. That’s it.

“Don’t get too involved.” He mutters to himself as he runs a hand through his hair. “Don’t get too involved.”

* * *

“I was gone twenty minutes.” Pacifica says slowly as she pinches the bridge of her nose to fight off the forming headache.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Mabel presses a kiss to her cheek before she takes her spare toothbrush out of the bathroom. “But I’m not in the best shape right now and I really don’t want the universe to delete me.”

“What if you get stuck there, Mabel?”

“I won’t, other dimension Bill promised he’ll bring me home whenever I want.”

“Mabel we’re supposed to be meeting with the florist tomorrow!”

“I liked the third arrangement, the one with the white lilies. And yes I know that those are dead people flowers but they’re elegant and they’ll really compliment your dress, which I totally didn’t sneak a peek at.” Pacifica rolls her eyes.

“You want white flowers? Little Miss Glitter and Rainbows wants white flowers?” Mabel shoves some of her leftover clothes into the borrowed duffle. It’s a good thing she still stays over at the Shack every now and then. She twists around to face Pacifica and cringes. She drops the sweaters and presses her hand tightly against her side. “Mabel!”

“Ow.” Pacifica forces her to sit on the edge of the bed as she regains her breath. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” She repeats herself when her voice comes out thin the first time. “I’ll get other-Bill to patch me up before we leave. I’m gonna be fine, Pacifica. And I don’t want the white flowers for me, I want them for you. Just give me a colorful bouquet and I’ll be happy.”

“Mabel I really don’t like this.”

“I know, neither do I,” She pulls the skin of her cheek between her teeth as she mulls over her next words. “Promise me you’ll try and stay away from her.”

“What?”

“She ripped out Bill’s _eye_. She’s volatile and dangerous. I don’t want her anywhere near you.” She squeezes Pacifica’s hand tightly in her own.

“Okay.” They sit in silence for a few minutes.

“I don’t want to leave.”

“I know.” It doesn’t make the ache in either of their chests lessen. “Please be careful. I know you’re going to get into trouble no matter what reality you’re in, but please,” the blonde says with near desperation, “be careful.”

“I will, lolipop.”

“You will never find a pet name for me that I don’t think is awful.”

“We’ve got the rest of our lives to test that theory.” Mabel presses her lips to their clasped hands and then wraps her arms around the blonde and holds her tight. Pacifica presses a kiss to her cheek.

“Come on, loser, what else do you need to pack?”

* * *

“We’ll bring you back soon.” Dipper says as he hugs his sister tightly without fear of hurting her as the demon had kept his word and rid her of her injuries.

“I know you will bro bro. It only took us a couple of weeks to avert the apocalypse, this is small potatoes compared to that.” She clutches at his shoulders a little harder but she knows they have to let go.  “Be careful.”

“You too.” Dipper lets her go and she hugs both Stans just as tightly before she turns to Pacifica and gives the other girl a desperate kiss.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Mabel takes a deep breath, and wow it’s nice to be able to do that without her ribs screaming in protest, before she joins the blue Bill back at the center of the room. Her eyes lock with her doppelganger's as she glances around the room and she glares at the woman who’s just appeared in the doorway. If she lays a hand on her family while she’s gone…. No. No more thoughts like that. She resists the urge to shake her head clear.

“Okay, let’s boldly go.” She says to the demon as she throws on a false smile.

“Wait.” The other Mabel speaks up. “Tell my brother…” She sounds unsure and stops speaking for a moment before she reclaims her resolve and straightens. “Tell my brother to die in a hole.” The entire Pines family turns and looks at her like she’s grown another head but her determined expression doesn’t waver.

“Uh, yeah. Okay, sure. How sweet.” She looks back at blue Bill and shrugs. “Okay then, Mabel out, peace!” Then she’s gone in the blink of an eye.

* * *

She thinks she might have been more impressed with the alternate dimension if they hadn’t appeared in an empty hallway. Admittedly it’s a nice hallway but it’s still just a hallway. The walls are half paneled and the floors are the same fine dark hardwood and minimal but ornate furnishings. It’s a little more subdued than the Northwest manor had been but still reeks of wealth.  
 ****

“M-Mabel?” She turns her attention to the blue Bill and squeezes the handle of her duffle a little tighter. He’s so different than the monster that tried to kill them and the friend that had been a mentor.

“What’s up?”

“I should talk to Master Dipper, please let me take you to a guest room.” He’s too polite. That’s a characteristic she never thought she would relate to the dream demon.

“Okay.” The demon looks around for a moment before he decides on a direction and floats off down the hall. The house is startlingly quiet and her footsteps echo down the corridors as they walk. As she follows him her eyes land on the cracks that run across his body. They’re a little smaller than they had been when he’d first arrived but  the gapes in reality are still noticeable. She replays the moment when the other Mabel had dug her fingers into his eye and her stomach tightens unpleasantly. “Is he going to hurt you?” She asks quietly, not entirely sure if she really wants an answer.

“Probably.” Bill responds just as softly as he stops in front of a door. It opens with a snap of his fingers. “I’m sure Master Dipper will come to meet you soon.”

“Wait, Bill,” a tiny burst of panic flutters to life in her chest and cuts off whatever she’d been about to say. This isn’t their Bill. This isn’t the friend, the mentor, the monster, the enemy that she knows. He’s not going to grin at her and call her Shooting Star. He’s not going to tease her and go around shining like he’s the sun. He’s not the same creature and the Dipper he’s going to talk to isn’t the same as her brother. She’s not going to find comfort in the familiar here and the sooner she accepts that the better off she’ll be. Mabel bites down hard on the inside of her cheek. “Thanks for healing me up earlier and for going to break the ice now.”  The demon stares at her with a wide eye for a long moment before he flares brightly. He’s not their Bill but she’d spent enough time around a triangle demon to know that he’s pleased, elated even.

“You’re welcome.” He disappears to wherever this dimension’s Dipper is and she goes into the guest room. It’s just as nicely furnished as the rest of the mansion but she doesn’t pay that much mind. Mabel drops her duffle near the door and goes to sit on the bed and tries not to wonder how long it’s been since the demon heard a kind word from anyone.

* * *

“Which room is she in?” Dipper puts the journal back on his desk and goes over to the mirror to make sure that his hair is in order. It’s not. He tries to smooth it down but hours of running his hands through it makes the task difficult.

“The third guest room in the West wing.” He’s a little impressed with the demon’s foresight. The West wing is the farthest from the secret entrance to the basement and the third guest bedroom is the only one he and Mabel have gotten a chance to soundproof though that could prove to be a double edged sword.

“And Mabel’s fine? You’re sure of that?” The demon hesitates and Dipper turns to face him fully with a glare. “Bill.”

“She’s alright but the other Mabel was badly injured when we met. Mistress Mabel may be in danger there.” Bill flinches back when Dipper reaches out to him but a glare from the human makes him still. He runs his fingers along the cracks, nearly healed now, and feels the creature trembling.

“I’m sure she’ll have fun then. I want to meet this one.”

“Yes Master Dipper.” The demon follows him out of the room and down the halls. “Master?”

“What?” He raises a brow somewhat surprised that the demon’s speaking to him at all. Bill usually keeps very quiet unless he’s being ordered to speak, as if somehow that will keep them from hurting him.

“In the other world they had their uncle and their grandfather.” His head swivels around to pin the demon with a look.

“What?” Bill flinches at his harsh tone.

“T-They were with both Stanford and Stanley Pines.” Dipper goes quiet. Both the Stans? Did their grandfather never fall into the portal at all? And if that’s the case then did they grow up knowing all the secrets of Gravity Falls? How much does their knowledge of the supernatural eclipse their own? He’s going to have to have a very long conversation with this girl. They stop in front of the door and he raps on it twice and waits for hardly a second before the door is being thrown open. He stares at the girl who is not his sister and for a moment forgets that he’s probably supposed to be greeting her. This Mabel has short hair, cut to her shoulders, and an amulet made of… Lithium Quartz? Where had she gotten her hands on that? She’s wearing a pair of jean shorts, a lavender sweater, and dirty white tennis shoes, an outfit his sister would never be caught dead in. She almost reminds him of Pacifica.

“Hello.”

“Hi.” She looks just as taken aback at his appearance.

“Dipper Gleeful.” He holds out his hand and she doesn’t hesitate to take it and give it a firm squeeze.

“Mabel Pines, sorry about the inconvenience.”

“No, thank you. Bill told me why you had to come here. It would have been just as easy for you to stay and let my sister die. I appreciate you sacrificing your comfort for her safety.” Her eyes are just as sharp as his own and he has no doubt she’s seen serious bloodshed in her life and probably caused her fair share of it. He wonders if his sister had noticed the darkness in this version of herself. How interesting. But he does mean his words. Even with the figurative blood on her hands this girl has a kindness in her that he and his sister do not possess.

“I think it would have been a little scarring to watch myself die and I don’t really need to add that to my probably already long list of psychological problems.” She shrugs.

“Well if you’re settled I could give you a tour of the house? Bill said that you live in the Mystery Shack in your reality.”

“Yeah, a tour would be cool. I used to get lost all the time in Pacifica’s house before I got used to it.”

“Pacifica had a house large enough to get lost in?” Exactly how different was her world from theirs?

“Her family is incredibly wealthy back home. What’s the Pacifica here like?”

“Meddlesome.” He answers without thinking and internally curses himself. “She’s hyperactive and often sticks her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Sounds like she’s the opposite of my Pacifica.” Mabel laughs and the sound is slightly forced. As she walks beside him he sees the tense set of her jaw and her sharp eyes moving over every feature of the hall with an intensity only hunters know. She’s going to be dangerous to keep around. “Oh, I almost forgot, your sister wanted me to pass along a message.”

“Hmm?” She makes a face as if she’s smelled something unpleasant.

“She said to tell you to ‘die in a hole’.” He snorts slightly but his lips do curl up into a small smile.

“That sounds like her.”

* * *

It takes almost an hour to make it through the entire house and eventually the two decide that it’s probably appropriate to have dinner.They easily agree on ordering in and after a casual debate on the merits of pizza verses Chinese they settle on pizza.

“I think I’m going to shower before it gets here.” Mabel says and Dipper can see the way her energy has flagged over the past hour. Being constantly on edge can do that to a person. “I haven’t had a proper one after getting thrown in the mud and electrocuting myself so I think I’m due.”

“Okay, I’ll have Bill tell you when the food gets here. There are clean towels in your closet.”

“Okay thanks Dipper.” She leaves and Dipper heads down into the kitchen.

He hears the water starting up as he’s giving their order and absentmindedly wonders if this version of Mabel prefers showers while his sister prefers baths. It’s not a pressing question but he’s always been curious. The two girls are very different when it comes to milestones in their lives. This Mabel had chosen to never go to college and to his understanding his alternate self had dropped out after his first semester while he and his sister had graduated both college and high school early in order to move back to Gravity Falls as quickly as possible. So they’re not just the same in those instances but what about the small things? Does this Mabel like baths or showers? Does she enjoy reading or movies better? Is she a pyromaniac? A faint hum of excitement buzzes in his bones. First finding out about their grandfather and now having the opportunity to learn about another dimension, how interesting. He’ll have to make the most of her time here. Perhaps the Pines twins have learned something in their world that will help he and his sister here.

He pulls himself out of such thoughts and glances around the kitchen. He’s not entirely sure what drew his attention but his eyes soon land on Bill. The demon is sitting on the table across from him and Dipper stares at him for a long moment. Bill won’t make eye contact with him and he can see that the cracks are just thin black scars now. Another hour or two and he’ll be completely healed. His fingers tingle with the desire to break Cipher open again. He could keep the demon here all night and question him about Stanley Gleeful and his research though he doubts he would get much more out of Bill. Dipper doesn’t honestly think that Stanley had been all that trusting of the demon and had kept his involvement at arm’s length. Stanford on the other hand had always seemed somewhat fond of Bill. Maybe he’ll torture Cipher until he understands why Stanley and Stanford had treated the demon so differently.

“Do you need to go back to the Mindscape?” He wouldn’t normally ask but ever since that creampuff had made an annoyance of himself he’s become slightly more observant of how much time they take up from the demon’s work.

“Not tonight, Master Dipper.” Bill replies in a small voice finally chancing a glance up at the human.

“Good, I want to have another talk about my grandfather.” He watches as the demon shudders and can’t resist reaching out to touch the thin scars on Bill’s body. He digs a blunt nail into the seam and with a tiny pulse of magic prys the wound open again. The demon gasps and whimpers as a few drops of blood dribble out and land with a soft sound against the table. He swipes his thumb over the leaking cut and revels in the strange feeling. It’s not like human blood, that much is obvious to anyone with eyes and a drop of sense in their heads, but it’s strange for so many different reasons. The temperature is cool when it just rests on top of the skin but the instant that pressure is applied it heats up to near scalding. The little bursts of light that radiate through it have some kind of tangible mass and are the only part of the liquid that feels sticky while the rest just feels smooth and slightly oily. He never gets tired of the strange feeling. Not for the first time he wonders what would happen if he gave into the urge and licked the blood from his finger but he restrains himself. He has no idea what the blood could do to him and he’s less than eager to find out.

“Y-yes Master Dipper.” The brunet stares at the blood for another long moment before speaking again.

“Where is their Bill? Or have they not figured out how to leash a demon?”

“You cannot leash a demon,” His eyebrows climb at that and the demon rushes to finish speaking. “Under normal circumstances. They could not tame their Bill and had to cage him after he tried to take over their world and kill them all.”

“Ambitious. Don’t go getting any ideas.” Dipper surprises himself when he hears the amusement in his voice. There’s always been the threat that Bill will one day break free of their control and seek revenge, that’s not a laughing matter, but at the same time he can’t see the demon becoming independent. Bill’s been clinging to humans since the dawn of time. He hasn’t ever managed to exist for himself. He needs someone to hold his leash. Dipper presses against the widened crack again and coaxes a few more beads of blood to the surface, causing the demon to whimper again.

“Never, Master Dipper.”

“You said a demon couldn’t be leashed under normal circumstances. Why were we able to bond you to us?” There’s a beat of silence and he scraps his way deeper into the wound and this time the demon actually cries out. What a lovely sound. “Don’t lie to me Bill.”

“I would never Master!” Dipper scrapes along the crack again. “You’re special!” the demon gasps.

“I already knew that. What makes us so special that we were able to succeed where so many other casters have failed?” He curls his fingers against the thin edge of the wound and applies a small pressure, just enough to warn the demon that he’s more than willing to tear him open again.

“You and Mistress are just special! You’re important!”

“Why?” He presses just a little harder.

“You just are! Master please, please! There’s no grand answer you’re just special, different from ordinary casters.”

“I don’t believe you Bill and I don’t tolerate you lying to me.” He pryes the wound open a little further and Bill writhes under his hand. “If you don’t tell me the truth in the next minute I’ll take your eye. I know how much you hate that, and unlike my dear sister I will not be as rash. I will peel it out piece by piece and burn the socket shut. It will take days to heal and you will be blind.” He watches the tears well up in the demon’s desperate eye and tenses. It’s always a rush to make a creature with god-like power cry. It makes his head light and sends warmth through his limbs. Dipper thinks this is how his sister feels when she’s elbow-deep in a corpse.

“You’re special to me.” The demon whimpers finally, looking down before squeezing his eye shut tightly. A few fat teardrops splash against the surface of the table and mingle with the blood there. Dipper leans back a little. That… was not the answer he’d been expecting. Still as nauseatingly sentimental as the statement had been he doubts the demon would have lied at this point. He’ll have to ask more about what exactly the demon meant by ‘special’ but for now he knows he should back off before he lets himself get carried away.

“Shh, shhh,” he says softly as he removes his fingers from the wound and swipes at the tear leaking out of the creature’s eye. Bill flinches back even more violently than when he’d first laid a hand on the demon under the soft touch. “Don’t start that just yet. I have to eat with this Mabel before I can give you my full attention. You’ll have plenty of time to cry for me later.” Bill whimpers as the doorbell sounds. “Clean up this mess and go get Mabel.” The demon disappears with a flash the instant the words are out of his mouth. Dipper looks at the never drying blood that’s gathered on his fingers and raises one to his lips. He doesn’t even open his mouth before he firmly reminds himself that licking away the blood is a horrible idea. He wipes his hand off on a handkerchief as he goes to answer the door. Another hour or two and he’ll have the demon all to himself again. He probably won’t need to torture the demon to get his answers but how can he resist after seeing Cipher staring up at him with that tear-filled eye.

* * *

The Pines don’t sleep much that night. Dipper stayed up half the night combing scientific journals for any information that might be relevant in interdimensional travel and to be honest he’d gotten linked to a lot more Doctor Who than he’d been expecting. He presses his palms against his eyes and rubs at them until his vision is filled with spots, as if he’ll somehow be able to scrape away the exhaustion. The man trudges into the kitchen and is unsurprised to find Stanley and Stanford are both also awake despite the early hour. Stanley stands in front of the coffee machine unblinking as the liquid drains into the pot while Stan is sitting at the table staring at a pile of papers.

“Morning.” Dipper greets quietly. The guest room door had been shut when he’d passed it earlier and he’s not sure he’s ready to greet the other Mabel just yet.

“Hey kid.” Stan grunts and Dipper goes over to look at the papers over his shoulder.

“What’s that?”

“Readings from the portal when it opened last.” The old man grumbles before pushing them over so that Dipper can get a better look at them. “We haven’t really made much sense of anything.”

“A couple of circuit boards blew when the portal powered up.” Stanley says groggily as he pours the coffee and gathers the mugs up to bring them to the table.

“Thanks Lee.”

“I called up Fidds last night and he said he’d bring over the new parts this afternoon and help me go through the data.” Stanley sinks into his usual chair and takes a sip of his coffee. Dipper scrunches his nose in distaste before adding some creamer and a bit of sugar to his own mug. Both of the Stans drink their coffee black and he’s half sure Stanford does it because he’s cheap and Stanley does it because after living in an alternate dimension for nearly forty years he’s gotten a taste for minimalist living.

“What do we do about Mabel?” He hopes that the older generation has an idea, any idea, because he’s drawing a blank.

“Keep her comfortable I guess.” His Grunkle says with a shrug. “She’s not the monster of the week, just treat her like a person.”

“I think we should be cautious.” Stanley frowns into his coffee mug as he speaks. “She’s volatile and malicious.” He looks up and his mouth is drawn in a tight displeased line. “We need to keep an eye on her. She doesn’t leave the Shack without someone with her. The last thing we need is for her to get into trouble and the town take it out on our Mabel when she comes back.”

“Yeah.” Dipper frowns and an uneasy silence falls over the men.

“Jesus you two are too serious. I hope your sister gets to come back soon. At least she’s fun.” Grunkle Stan scoffs into his mug before kicking his brother’s chair. “You’re turn to make breakfast chump.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” Lee gets up and heads over to the fridge while Dipper and Stan turn back to the papers again. Maybe they can make some kind of headway before Stanley’s finished cooking.

* * *

Mabel crawls out of bed as early as she can. She throws on her amulet a sweater and a pair of shorts before tiptoeing out of the guest room in bare feet. Her steps don’t make a sound as she slinks down hall after hall of the Gleeful mansion. Alternate dimension Dipper had set off her creep indicator just as strongly as his sister had even though he seems slightly more stable than said sister. Perhaps no matter what dimension Dipper’s always going to be more well-adjusted than she is. Mabel shakes off the thoughts as she approaches the first room that she needs to explore. Dipper Gleeful had indicated it absentmindedly when he’d been giving her the tour the previous night and she had pretended that it hadn’t caught her interest but until she fell asleep she hadn’t stopped thinking about it. The woman takes a deep breath and her hand hovers over the doorknob, trying to feel out if there’s any warding around the door. Nothing vibrates against her skin so she curls her fingers around the polished brass.

The door doesn’t creak as she gently pushes it open. Mabel glances around the hallway and peaks inside just enough to make sure the room is empty before she enters the room and closes the door behind her with a quiet click. She presses her back against the door and her eyes roam the room ravenously, trying to take everything in. It’s then disappointing when she realizes that there really isn’t much in the room to begin with. She frowns out at the same dark wood furnishings that are in the rest of the house. Perhaps she’d gone to the wrong room? No. She’s positive this is Mabel Gleeful’s bedroom.

The brunette walks around the room slowly. The bed is a king swathed in navy sheets that have a thread count so high she thinks even Pacifica would find it outrageous and a multitude of lush fluffy pillows. Her vanity is ornate and probably a family heirloom that’s been passed down generations and the surface is covered in brand name products. Mabel opens a few of the drawers and finds a curling iron, straightener, and blowdryer as well as various hair care products. She tries not to move anything before she goes over to one of the doors connecting to the bedroom. The one on the left leads into an equally ornate bathroom with an exquisite tub as well as a large shower. This might be the most modern-styled room in the house and Mabel stares in complete envy at the tub and the jar full of bathbombs resting on the counter near it. That’s the kind of tub that a girl could relax without having to choose if her knees or her breasts were out of the water. It’s the kind of tub that would be fantastic to soak in after a long day of fighting Gremloblins or Manotaurs. She stops staring and goes into the medicine cabinet. It sits fairly empty only holding a bottle of Midol, some Ibuprofin, a little box of allergy medicine, nothing that wouldn’t be in her own medicine cabinet back home. However her eyes do linger over the two toothbrushes that sit in a stand on the counter. Huh. Perhaps this Mabel has a significant other of her own.

She exits the bathroom and opens the second door and has to contain her gasp. The closet is expansive. Honestly she doesn’t know if she can call it a closet considering it is three quarters of the size of the bedroom. The clothes range in style from trendy and casual to formal black and white tie. There’s even a section of clothes in bright blue with various sequins and tassels that Mabel thinks have to be for the performances that Dipper had told her about last night. She nearly drools looking at her double’s show collection. Just like everything on her vanity the closet is incredibly well-organized and sorted by style and color. The wardrobe lacks the same use of color her’s does but it still contains an impressive amount of variety. It’s clear her counterpart has the same fascination with fashion as she does though Gleeful’s tastes are more expensive.

Mabel pulls open a couple of drawers first discovering a collection of tights and socks before opening the next. Mabel stares with wide eyes at the clothes that she finds. These pressed white shirts and slacks don’t belong to a woman. Neither do the pair of dress shoes, belt, socks, or briefs that also reside in the drawer. Well then. She hadn’t really thought that Gleeful was dating Pacifica after how distastefully Dipper had talked about the blonde but she’d hoped a little. It would have been amazing if her and Pacifica’s bond transcended dimensions. Too bad. She sighs and shuts the drawer before opening the next. Mabel Gleeful’s lingerie stares up at her.

She hesitates for a moment before shrugging and taking a closer look. She’s snooped this much so she should probably go the whole way. Various pieces in dark lace immediately stand out and a few of them are more complicated than any underwear that she’s ever seen before. Mabel tries to pull the drawer open a little further but it’s caught on something. She shoves a hand into the drawer and her fingers curl around something hard and she pushes it down and out of the way so she can open the drawer all the way. The white box stuffed in the back of the drawer intrigues her enough that she has to take a look. She pulls the set out of the box and glances at the price tags. Jesus. She never realized how expensive French lace was. The bra, panties, suspender, and thigh highs all have delicate white edging and tiny black bows for detailings while the more substantial parts of the garments are black lace. It’s gorgeous but not worth the thirteen hundred that Gleeful had spent on it in Mabel’s opinion. She glances back in the box and sees a note that had been sitting underneath the clothes.

_‘Happy Anniversary you wretched brat.’_

The box clatters to the floor. Bile rushes up the back of her throat and her heart thuds too quickly in her chest. That’s Dipper’s handwriting. She’s been staring at that handwriting since they were children and she knows it when she sees it and this is it. Without a doubt. An extra toothbrush, a man’s clothes in the drawer, that could have been normal and reasonable but giving your sister lingerie is pushing things a bit. She scrambles to pick up the box and shoves it and the card back into the drawer before going back to the man’s clothes. She holds the shirt in front of her and presses it against her chest to get an approximate measurement of the size. The Dipper here is her height and has two inches on his sister. She measures the sleeves against her own arms and swallows hard. Definitely his size. No. No, the Gleefuls seem twisted but not that twisted. She’s jumping to conclusions. Mabel folds the shirt back up and puts it away before exiting the closet.

She cracks the door and looks down the hallway before she slips from the room and heads back to her own. The glitter enthusiast barely has enough time to sit down before someone is knocking on her door. A startled yelp escapes her throat before she jolts back up and heads over to the door. For a split second she’s confused by the empty hallway that greets her but the glow coming from the floor causes her to look down.  Bill stands on the other side and seeing him makes all her thoughts come to a dead stop. The demon is looking up at her and he only glows dimly with light. New cracks have formed over his body and dark patches of blue mimic bruises on his surface. His eye is half bricked over and she wonders if that’s the demon’s version of being swollen. His left arm is curled against his body with his right supporting it and upon closer inspection she realizes that a portion of the limb has been cut off.

“Oh my God, Bill!” She kneels down and wants to scoop the creature up in her arms but hesitates. What if she hurts him more?

“Master Dipper is making breakfast if you want to join him.” Bill says in a small voice as he looks down at the floor. If she felt sick to her stomach before then now she’s one light breeze away from throwing up. She wants to ask why Dipper had done this but she already knows the answer. The Gleeful boy is just as sadistic and twisted as his sister and clearly more dedicated to leaving meticulous and lingering damage. The cuts running along Bill’s body are uniform but alternating in depth. She hasn’t seen that method in her and Dipper’s exploits but Stanley had told her about coming across something similar. That method ensured that the pain wouldn’t blend into itself and that each cut would hurt just as much, if not more, than the last. She picks up the demon as gently as she can and he hardly weighs a thing.

“Are you going to be okay?” She convinces herself that she doesn’t need to feel guilty about asking after the demon’s well-being. This Bill has been nothing but polite and helpful to her and her family. He hasn’t done anything to deserve her hatred like their Bill had. She won’t treat him like he deserves this kind of treatment.

“I’ll heal.” He says quietly and buries his face against her shoulder. “Please come down for breakfast. Master needs….” Bill hesitates. “He needs the company.”

“Okay.” She replies just as softly as she holds the trembling creature. What Dipper needs is for someone to torture him so he can see how much he likes being on the receiving end. The frown on her face only grows a deeper at that thought. Her own brother’s masochistic tendencies aren’t as much of a secret as he likes to think they are, perhaps it’s only fitting that the alternate dimension version of him is a sadist. The demon wiggles out of her arms and tries to float away but his glow stutters and he falls to the floor with a soft thud and a high pained whine. Mabel scoops him back into her arms. “Come on. I’ll walk, you rest.” A part of her wants to promise to protect the demon from further harm but she’s long outgrown the days of making empty promises.

* * *

Dipper’s not sure what amuses him more as he and Mabel Pines sit down for breakfast together, the way she shudders every time he gets closer than two feet from her or the fact that she’s trying to protect Bill from him. The demon had tried to separate himself from the woman as soon as they had entered the kitchen but the girl was having none of it. She keeps the demon at her side and gives him the most vicious glares whenever his attention turns to the creature. Mabel answers his questions about her world in clipped sentences and stabs at her food without really eating any of it. Her fork scrapes against her plate with a loud squeal and he doesn’t think he’s ever been more amused at someone’s petulance. His real sister has always had a knack for throwing temper-tantrums but she is usually more aggressive than this.

“Bill,” Both the demon and the girl tense when he speaks as he stands up to clear away their plates. “Since you seem to find Mabel such good company you’ll stay here and keep her entertained while I’m working in the Bunker.”  He watches the demon’s reaction out of the corner of his eye and sees Bill jolt.

“But Master--!”

“Are you talking back to me?” He raises a brow and turns back to face the two. Mabel’s still glaring at him and he sees Bill flinch.

“N-no, Master Dipper. I’m just concerned. There could be more hidden traps in the Bunker. You could get hurt.” The demon’s voice gets quieter as he speaks and he can’t make eye contact with either of the humans. Dipper frowns at the creature, forgetting to bait his sister’s look-alike.

“We disabled the traps days ago, Bill. I’ll be fine. Do you _want_ to come with me?” He asks with furrowed brows. The demon should be jumping, or limping as the case may be, with joy at being able to stay at home and heal while he goes out to research. A long tense silence fills the room. Bill should have answered by now. He and Mabel both stare at the creature who’s gone wide eyed at the sarcastic quip. Dipper shifts somewhat uncomfortable before adjusting the amulet hanging at his neck. “Stay here or go back to the Mindscape, I don’t care which. Just come back if you’re called, by me or her.” He exits the kitchen before either of the others can reply. Whatever’s going on with the demon is becoming a little too genuine for his taste and an unpleasant itching at the back of his mind tells him it’s not something he can carve out of Bill with a knife.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This installment is 30,039 words and I have been working on it and tweaking sections for months and months and I apologize for such the long wait. There might be edits made to it in the future, but for now I feel like it's finally time to upload it. Thank you for anyone who is still involved with this series and I hope you enjoy this chapter. 
> 
> I want to remind everyone that this depicts very unhealthy relationships, sibling incest, abusive/sadistic behavior, and various other very serious and uncomfortable subject matters. Make sure that you are comfortable with these themes before reading.

Dipper, Stan, and Stanley are in the middle of breakfast when someone knocks on the side door before pushing it open.

  
“Morning.”

  
“Hey Pacifica.” He greets as the blonde comes in and shuts the door behind her. “There’s juice in the fridge.”

  
“What are you doing over here so early kiddo?” Stan asks as Pacifica pours herself a glass of orange juice. The young woman is wearing a pair of dark grey waist-high shorts and a lavender crop top with tiny pastel rainbow hearts over the entire thing that Dipper’s pretty sure Mabel made for their anniversary last year.

  
“I figured that I should probably take Mabel out shopping at some point today.” She says as she sinks into the chair beside Dipper. “It’s not like she got to pack a suitcase.”

  
“Mabel explicitly told me that she didn’t want you around this Mabel.”

  
“And I’m telling you you’re going to let me take her shopping because if I don’t then you’re going to have to.” She raises one eyebrow in challenge. “And I’ve seen this girl’s style. She’s going to be even more of a shopaholic than your sister. Would you rather be here researching and trying to find a way to get Mabel home or shopping for twelve hours?”

  
“Seriously Pacifica, Mabel doesn’t want you around her.”

  
“And I’m inclined to agree. The girl’s prone to violence.” Lee seconds.

  
“I’ll pay for everything she needs while she’s here.”

  
“Sold.”

  
“Grunkle Stan!”

  
“Ford!”

  
“Oh come on poindexters,” the old man rolls his eyes. “Gleeful attacked Bill, not a person. We have no idea what kind of situation that is and even if this is a different Mabel do you really think that she would attack Pacifica in cold blood?” The glares he’s getting from his brother and grand nephew don’t lessen. “Seriously just let them go shopping, maybe they’ll bond or something.”

  
“Look I’m taking her out whether you like it or not, but I figured I would try to talk to you guys about it before I did it.” Pacifica shrugs and Dipper sighs. If she’s made up her mind then there’s nothing anyone can do to talk her out of it.

  
“At least wait until we can get something together to protect you from magic. I’m sure you could take her in a fight,” he rushes to say when she gives him an incredulous look. “But not while she’s got her amulet.”

  
“Okay. How long will that take?”

  
“Shouldn’t take long,” Stanley says with a shrug. “Mabel’s been researching that for the past year. I’ll take a look at her notes and make you a charm.

  
“Am I the only person in this family who can’t do magic?” Pacifica mutters into her juice.

  
“You and me both, blondie.” Grunkle Stan corrects her in a grumble.

  
“And you’re better for it.” Dipper nudges Pacifica’s shoulder with his own. “Come on, I’ll go properly introduce you to her.”

  
“Okay.”

* * *

 

He doesn’t know why he thought introducing Mabel Gleeful and Pacifica was going to go well. When they knock on the guest room door Mabel immediately calls out for them to enter. She’s still in the same clothes as yesterday but her hair has been tied up into a French twist and she regards them both with an air of disinterest.

  
“Mabel this is our Pacifica Northwest, Pacifica this is Mabel Gleeful.”

  
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” Pacifica extends her hand and Mabel looks at the other woman for a long moment before taking it.

  
“Hello. You’re… much more fashionable than our Pacifica.”

  
“How does your Pacifica dress?” The blonde’s tone implies equal parts of curiosity and horror for the brunette’s answer.

  
“Like she’s trapped in the 80’s”

  
“That’s… unfortunate.” Pacifica frowns. “Knowing that you’re a bit limited on options at the moment, it would be my pleasure to take you shopping today.” She offers.

  
“Thank you. That would be convenient.” Jeez it’s like talking to a cardboard box. Or a Vulcan. Even his inner nerd cringes at the comparison.

  
“Okay, uh there’s food in the kitchen if you’re hungry,” he interrupts the strange and intense staring contest that’s going on between the two girls. “We didn’t want to wake you earlier but there’s a plate in the oven.”

  
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll take you out.” Pacifica says while waving her hand.

  
“How generous.” Mabel says blandly but her eyes follow that hand. “Will your fiancee be joining us on this trip?”

  
“Unfortunately no as she’s currently staying in your dimension.” Dipper isn’t expecting the mirror to crack, or the light bulbs to blow, or for Mabel to grab Pacifica by the throat and slam her against the wall. The violent reaction floors him but he immediately rushes to pry Mabel’s fingers from around Pacifica’s throat only to have her bat him away with a flick of her wrist.

  
“She can’t be dating you.” Mabel snarls with glowing blue eyes.

  
“She’s marrying me. I thought you noticed the ring.” It’s not her best comeback but the lack of oxygen getting to her brain makes her cut herself some slack.

  
“I will rip out your lying tongue.”

  
“Separatus!” Dipper orders and Mabel gets forced away from the blonde. Pacifica braces herself against the wall to keep from falling over and takes a few deep breaths as she massages the tender flesh of her throat. There’ll be bruises there tomorrow for sure.

  
“What was that?! Do you just go attacking everyone who says something you don’t like? Are you insane?” He snarls as he rushes over to Pacifica. She coughs a few times as she tries to refill her lungs but waves him off. Mabel’s hands shake at her sides and the blonde is sure that she’s aching to keep her word.

  
“I’m fine Dipper.” Pacifica shoves him away a bit so he’ll stop hovering. “She’s having a bit of culture shock, can you blame her? She and her Pacifica probably never made it to the point of friends.” This Mabel probably hasn’t ever had a friend. This Mabel is obviously terrified of the idea. “Are you going to try and maim me again?” She addresses her fiancee's lookalike in a dry tone.

  
“I’m not sure yet.” And she looks it.

  
“Okay, not a completely reassuring answer but it’s not the worse.”She straightens up and Dipper honestly wants to take her by the shoulders and remove her from the room himself. “We’re going to be leaving soon so take some time to calm down or I’m not breaking out the gold card when we get to the mall.” Dipper does actually pull the woman from the room this time and lets the door slam behind them.

  
“Are you insane!? There’s no way that I’m letting you go shopping with her after she just attacked you! Mabel wouldn’t let you either!”

“Get it straight Dipshit, you and Mabel don’t ‘let’ me do anything. Sure you two are more powerful than I am but you two use that power with as much restraint as a couple of toddlers.” The blonde snarls at him, jabbing a stiletto nail into his chest painfully for emphasis. “You two throw just as many temper tantrums as that Mabel and I can handle those just fine. I’ll take the charm and hell, I’ll even take someone else, as long as it’s not you.”

“Pacifica--”

“No. I have handled a murderous Mabel more times than you ever have and more efficiently than you ever could. You completely lose your sense when it comes to dealing with your sister Dipper, you just egg each other on. That’s the last thing we need right now. So listen to me and I’ll take care of this because there’s absolutely nothing you can do to make this situation any better.” She holds his gaze for a few long seconds to reassure him, to watch his resistance die. “Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Okay. Good.” She was expecting more of a fight than that.

“But I choose who goes with you instead.”

“Too late, I called for backup before I came over.” Pacifica flips her hair over her shoulder triumphantly and Dipper really shouldn’t be surprised.

“You really thought this through.”

“Of course I did. Someone has to be level headed in this situation.”

* * *

 

“Seriously, how much more shopping can you two possibly do?” Wendy asks as she collapses into a seat at the food court with a sigh. She runs a hand through her hair as Pacifica sets down her bags followed by not-Mabel. Both girls have made enough purchases that she thinks they could probably pay her rent with the contents of the bags. But they’re having fun so she can’t really complain.

“We’ve still got half of the mall to go.” Pacifica warns with an evil little smirk.

“Joy.” The EMT intones dryly.

“After we’re done why don’t we all go out for dinner?” The blonde offers.

“Girl’s night? Cool.” Wendy shrugs with a quick glance at Mabel. The look-alike hasn’t been much for conversation so far but she hasn’t tried to kill anyone so maybe she’s actually enjoying herself a little bit. “But I demand something to hold me over.”

“Smoothies sound good?”

“Hell yeah they do.” She moves to stand but Pacifica stops her with a raised hand.

“I got it. What do you want?”

“Apple and banana please.”

“What about you Mabel?” The brown haired woman stares at Pacifica for a long moment but the blonde doesn’t waver. Wendy knows that Pacifica has memorized Mabel’s favorite everything and suspects the blonde only asked because she didn’t want to set Gleeful off by making the assumption her tastes reflect their Mabel’s.

“Something with strawberries and kiwi, please.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” And with that the lumberjack is left sitting alone with Gleeful. Wendy’s not entirely sure what to say to the woman who’s wearing her friend’s face. She has plenty of questions for the girl, and she suspects that everyone else does as well, but it’s like trying to navigate a minefield. This girl goes between calm and collected to flat out vicious in a heartbeat and she doesn’t really want to get her throat ripped out. A twist in her gut reminds her that their Mabel is exactly the same way. She wonders if anyone else has noticed that yet. They’re treating this Mabel like a monster even though they’ve been watching their Mabel kill things since she was sixteen.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket and she pulls it out, completely unsurprised to see that the message is from Dipper. He’s been texting her every hour since they’d left the Shack to make sure things are going well. He’s probably pacing around the entire house ripping his hair out, the goober. She glances up at Mabel who appears to be people watching with a bored expression. Her shoulders are tight and her fingers are twisted into the fabric of her sleeves as she sits with her arms crossed. Wendy might stare at her for a moment or two before she finally looks back at her phone and sends Dipper one last message before turning the device off.

“So I just gotta ask, and I hope you don’t mind,” she adds in a casual tone. Mabel’s gaze is sharp when it turns to her. “But that shirt, who’s is it?” She sees the other woman’s surprise at the question and then her amusement as she waits for an answer.

“Mine.”

“Dude I’ve been shopping with you all day. Even if I bought that that’s a girl’s blouse, which I don’t, I know by now that kind of clothes you like. You dress so you look your absolute best at all times. You so wouldn’t have left your house in that if you’d had any choice. That’s more of a ‘I-just-got-out-of-bed-and-my-boyfriend’s-shirt-was-right-there’ sort of look.” Wendy’s a little surprised at the small smile that statement puts on Mabel’s lips.

“I had planned on dragging him back to bed. I wasn’t expecting to come to a completely different reality.” She finally says while running a hand through her long bangs.

“Can I ask who--”

“You’re observant, maybe you’ll figure it out on your own.”

“Come on dude, you’re going to make me play the guessing game? Weak.” Mabel just smiles at her again and Wendy decides not to press her luck any further, especially when she spots Pacifica heading back over. She doubts that the younger woman wants to hear Mabel talking about her boyfriend, even if this isn’t their Mabel. Gleeful’s expression immediately turns back to steel when Pacifica sits down again.

“So I was thinking we could hit H&M and Forever 21 next. I think that’s right up your alley,” she tells Mabel, handing her a smoothie before turning her attention to Wendy. “And There’s a pair of boots there that I think you’ll die for.”

“Okay.” Mabel gives a small shrug. “But at some point I’m going to need to go to Sephora.”

“Agreed. I’ve heard good things about the Tarté clay foundation.”

“What are you using now?”

“The Smashbox BB. I usually try to go for a lighter look during spring and summer. But I want to look airbrushed for my wedding.” Wendy sees how Mabel’s mouth tightens at the corners at the mention of the wedding.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if we had products here that you don’t have in your world?” She ponders aloud. “It would be like getting super-limited edition stuff.”

The conversation progresses from there with Mabel actually contributing more than a few stiff words. In fact Wendy thinks the girl might actually be having fun by the time they make it back to the Mystery Shack so Mabel can drop off her new things and change. She wonders if the girl has ever had friends before and the thought makes her stomach twist with pity. Pacifica’s on the phone with the restaurant dropping the Northwest name to get a last minute reservation when they push open the front door. She thinks they’re heading a town or two over to eat somewhere nicer than Greasy’s. As soon as they step inside they’re greeted by Dipper and if the state of his hair is anything to go by he’s definitely been worrying all day.

“Hey, you're back. How’d everything go?”

“Fine. Pacifica has been very… generous.” Mabel answers slowly as she looks over her brother. Or not her brother. Whatever. “We came to drop off my stuff before we go to dinner.”

“Girl’s night.” Wendy says with a small smile and a one shoulder shrug.

“Oh. That’s nice.” Mabel watches Dipper for another long moment before she brushes past him to head in the direction of the guest room. As soon as he thinks she’s out of earshot he turns to her with a scowl.

“Why did you turn your phone off?”

“Seriously Dipper, everything’s fine, stop worrying.” She punches him lightly on the arm. “I turned off my phone cause treating her like a monster was turning her into a zombie. I mean it.” The ginger says before he can speak up. “If you want my opinion she’s just as freaked out about this as the rest of us and she’s trying to cut herself off so she doesn't look like it.”

“She tried to strangle Pacifica.” He says incredulously.

“Well, yeah. I’m not saying she’s a saint or that she’s not off her rocker, but I don’t think she’s going to try it again unless she feels threatened.”

“She’s not a wounded animal, Wendy.”

“No, but she is completely separated from her home and surrounded by people who look just like the ones she knows and trusts only we’re treating her like a science experiment or a timebomb. First off that probably feels pretty shitty, Dipper. Second, can you imagine how hostile our Mabel would have been if the situation was reversed? You know what she’s like when she thinks that there’s a danger to her friends or family.” She says earnestly and watches as he turns the statement over in his mind. “Maybe we just need to treat her like she’s her own person and give her the time and space so that she can come to terms with this all on her own.” She gives him a small smile. “Okay, dork?”

“Yeah… that sounds like a plan….” He finally responds even though he sounds like he’s a million miles away.

“Good, stop worrying. That’s not going to help us.” She hears Pacifica push the door open and after a moment she joins them in the living room.

“Hey.”

“Hey, Dipper.” Wendy spots Mabel first as she comes into the room. “She’s got a good sense of style.” She informs the twin, neither noticing said woman has also rejoined them in the room. Wendy watches Mabel for a moment, but she only has eyes for Dipper. After spending a whole day with that intense stare Wendy’s familiar with the clinical way she regards all the strange thing in their dimension that are different than her home. But after a moment her gaze softens just a little as she stares at her brother’s look-alike.

“What did the restaurant say?” She asks and Pacifica and Dipper turn to look at her.

“They’re holding a table.” Pacifica inspects the other’s outfit but doesn’t comment. She’s changed into a grey pencil skirt and a loose sleeveless black tunic that’s been tucked into the waist with a pair of black ankle boots. There’s a coat draped across her folded arms. Wendy doesn’t know where the sudden burst of tension came from but she shifts uncomfortably under it.

“Well I’m starving, so….” She gestures at the door.

“Oh, uh before you go.” Dipper reaches into his pocket. “Here.” He presses the key into Mabel’s hand. “Just in case we’re asleep, or down in the lab, or something when you get back.” Mabel stares at the chunk of metal for a moment before looking at the other twin with an unreadable expression.

“Thank you… Dipper.” She says his name like it’s unfamiliar on her tongue.

“Uh, you’re welcome.” Wendy doesn’t think she’s ever seen a more awkward exchange and she’s seen Soos flirt. She and Pacifica decide to take mercy on him at the same time.

“I hope you like chocolate because this place has mousse to die for.”

“Let’s head out before we lose our table.”

“Bye, have fun.” Dipper mutters. Mabel blinks before heading towards the door with Pacifica. Wendy really hopes that she’s not going to turn back into a zombie over dinner. She gives Dipper a weak smile as she follows the two younger girls from the room. He looks a little zombie-ish himself and her chest tightens for him. Poor guy. The universe just keeps throwing curve balls at him.

* * *

 

After Dipper leaves Mabel’s not really sure what to do with herself. The mansion is huge but she’s done her fair share of snooping for the day. There’s also the issue of her company. Bill hadn’t left after Dipper had telling her quietly that he didn’t have enough magic to go back to the Mindscape. Every time she looks at him it makes her stomach twist. If he was yellow instead of blue she’d be saying he’s getting what he deserves but he’s not. He doesn’t deserve the abhorrent treatment that he receives under the Gleefuls’ iron fists.

“Why do you stay with them?” She asks after a long time sitting in the living room in silence. She’d found a photo album in the coffee table drawer and had been flipping through it for the past hour. Someone had been meticulous in cataloging the Gleeful’s summers in Gravity Falls. Mabel can actually see the darkness taking root in them over time.

Their first summer with tentative smiles as they meet their Grunkle Stan. The success of their first magic show. The way they’d been reluctant to leave on the last day. She sees their eyes deaden when she stumbles across clippings describing their parent’s car accident. She sees the sadness turn into anger and the anger turn into bitter steel as they pass fifteen. Mabel watches with gross fascination as it becomes more and more obvious that the pictures are stagings to try and show a happy family. The most genuine picture she sees after the twins have turned eighteen must have been taken when they were off-guard. Dipper is standing in front of his desk with a book in hand, with the journal in hand, one hand gesturing wildly like he always does when he’s excited. His eyes are bright and there’s a smile on his face while Mabel grins at him upside down in the background, lying with her head dangling off the foot of a bed. It’s a good picture and probably the only one since they were twelve to actually show them looking happy.

“They are my Mistress and my Master.” Bill says softly from where he sits on the window sill. His hand has finally regenerated but he still looks horrible.

“Could they kill you?”

“If they wanted.”

“That doesn’t freak you out?”

“No.” Mabel scowls down at the photo album. Dipper’s too pragmatic to just let a useful resource die for no reason. He would never give up the power that holding a demon gives him and Bill knows it.

“How long does it usually take you to heal?”

“It depends on how much energy I can spare.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” He’s just as surprised as her when she asks that question. Mabel chews on the inside of her cheek as silence permeates the air. This goes on for so long that she wants to retract the offer but she doesn’t.

“If… if you were willing to lend me your magic?” He says timidly as he stares at the hardwood.

“Okay.” He floats over and sits on the coffee table in front of her. “What do I do?” He reaches out for her hands and she lets him take hold and guide them until her fingers press gently against one of the cracks on his body. Her arms tingle like someone’s stabbing sewing needles into her skin. Mabel feels him tug on her magic and slowly it pulls through her skin and warms her palms. She doesn’t really feel like she’s being all that helpful but slowly she sees the cracks begin to close until they’re just thin black scars along his body while his glow brightens little by little.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Not that it’s going to help in the long run. He’s just going to do it to you again.” She mutters as she pulls her hands back into her lap. “I really don’t understand the loyalty you have to them. Our Bill,” Mabel scowls, takes a breath, and continues. “Our Bill was our friend. We treated him like family and he still turned on us when it suited him best. I can’t believe that you haven’t tried to open the portal and merge this world with the Mindscape with how they treat you.”

“I thought about it.” The demon admits quietly after a moment. “When they first bound me. I thought that it would serve them right, to end up in a world where they were my slaves, like how it should be. But I like humans. I always have.” For the first time Mabel hears in his voice the same joy that her Bill had always spoken with. “Humans are fascinating and to just get to see your dreams unfold is a privilege. If I ever merge the worlds I don’t want to rule the result. I just want to watch. And I can do that after. Lost Star and Evergreen needed a teacher when they summoned me or else they would have wound up dead or imprisoned. They’re only going to be around for a century or so. I’ve got an eternity to enact my plans. It can wait. They couldn’t.”

“I don’t know if that’s really sweet or really sad.” Mabel says dryly. “Why couldn’t you have been the Bill in our world? You would have made a better friend than yellow Bill.”

“You and your brother needed a teacher and an adversary to grow into yourselves, Mabel, Evergreen and Lost Star needed something else.”

“You really, really care about them.” It makes her head ache and her furrow her brows. If their Bill had felt even an ounce of the compassion this Bill feels for those torturing--. It’s not going to do her any good to keep turning that thought around in her mind.

“I think my Mistress and Master need that and I think my Master would benefit from getting to know you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She mutters. “Do they know about your nicknames?” He shakes, well most of his body really, but she assumes he’s trying to mimic shaking his head. Bill’s glow is almost as bright as it had been the previous night and the demon pushes off the table and floats in the air with a pleased noise. She’d almost forgotten that she used to enjoy Bill’s company nearly as much as Dipper had. Even knowing all the suffering their Bill had caused she can’t help the warm bubble of affection that spreads in her chest.

* * *

 

When Dipper finally decides to head back home he doesn’t do so without a peace offering. He knows he won’t get anything out of his alternate dimension sister if she’s still furious with him and if she’s anything like his actual sister he knows that the fastest way to forgiveness is through cupcakes. He steps through the front door and it swings shut behind him with a soft click.

“Mabel? Bill?” He calls through the house, his voice echoing in the quiet.

“Living room!” The woman calls back not sounding nearly as furious as she had this morning. Dipper drops his keys into the bowl by the door before heading towards the living room. Sure enough the woman is sitting on the couch with a photo album across her lap and the TV droning on quietly in the background. Bill’s floating over her shoulder looking… significantly less damaged than he had this morning. He’s never seen the demon heal that quickly. He raises a brow at Bill and the demon loses a little altitude under the stare. They’re going to talk about that later. Dipper turns his attention back to Mabel.

“I brought cupcakes. I don’t know if you like them but my sister has a weakness for chocolate.” He sees the surprise on her face for a brief moment before she narrows her eyes. Well it had been an obvious bribe but he wonders if she’s actually going to call him out on it.

“I do actually. Thank you.” He disguises his shock with a smile as he hands off the box. The caster had expected her to reject the offer but the anger from this morning seems to have dissipated. “I hope you don’t mind, I found your photo album in the drawer. I was curious.”

“It’s not private.” He says with a shrug and is even more surprised when Mabel actually moves over so he can sit beside her on the couch. “Mabel used to scrapbook a lot when we were younger before she found new hobbies.”

“I saw the news clippings. I’m sorry for your loss.” Dipper frowns down at the page she has the book open to. That had been hard but they’d had each other and from then all that was all they needed.

“It was a long time ago, but thank you.” The conversation is stiff but at least the Pines girl is talking to him. “Are your parents..?”

“They’re still alive. They’re still living in California. We don’t talk as much as we used to.” Mabel admits in a soft voice as she sets the box of pastries on the table. “They don’t know anything about the supernatural.”

“And you want to keep it that way.” He guesses and she nods.

“It’s safer. Speaking of family where’s your Grunkle Stan?”

“Missing.” Dipper answers immediately.

“What?” His sister’s look-alike seems mildly horrified by that news.

“People go missing a lot in Gravity Falls.” She doesn’t need to know it’s because of them. “They aren’t ever found.”

“But you have Bill, and your magic, can’t you find him?”

“At this point there’s nothing left to find.” He says honestly. He’d used up the last of Stanford in a spell four days ago.

“I’m so sorry.” Dipper knows she’s not particularly fond of him but he doesn’t doubt the sincerity in her tone, even if it is misguided. She’s thinking about how she and her twin would handle it if their ‘Grunkle’ were to die and assuming he and his sister would have the same reaction.

“Actually we weren’t close.” He says with a small shrug. “Though it is strange running the show without him.” A lightbulb goes off in his mind. He’d completely forgotten about the show he and Mabel were supposed to be putting on tonight. He curses under his breath and checks his watch.

“What?” It’s only two, there’s more than enough time to cancel the performance, he gives a relieved sigh.

“I almost forgot that I would need to get everything canceled tonight. But there’s plenty of time.”

“The magic show?” She asks with a raised brow.

“Yeah.”

“How much actual magic do you two use?”

“About half of it is real. We could perform entirely without using it but to be honest I’ve gotten a bit lazy. Mabel really enjoys performing but I’m more dedicated to discovering--”

“‘The mysteries of this town’.” Mabel finishes while rolling her eyes in the exact same fashion his sister always does.

“I take it your brother says the same thing.” He intones dryly and for the first time he sees Mabel grin.

“Yeah. Why cancel the show though?”

“I don’t have a co-star. We’re the Telepathy Twins, not exactly a solo act.”

“Well I mean, you do have a twin here who’s capable of performing magic.” She shrugs and looks at the photo album again and he raises a brow.

“Do you want to perform?”

“I just think it might be cool. I don’t really get a chance to use my powers very much, at least not for stuff like this. I’ve really only been casting in combat situations to be honest.”

“You see a lot of combat?”

“You don’t?” She asks incredulously.

“Most of the creatures know that we’re powerful enough to tame a demon and those too stupid to understand the significance of that can be scared off with a few fireballs.” He shrugs but Mabel just keeps looking at him like he’s grown an extra head. “If you’re really serious about doing this we’re going to have to start rehearsing.”

“Okay.” Her stubborn look and obvious determination are incredibly familiar.

“Fine. Follow me, I’ll show you Mabel’s costumes. You can pick one out while I figure out what script we should run.” He says as he stands. What’s the worst that can happen?

“Okay. Wait, costumes?” Dipper smiles a little at the excitement in her voice. Perhaps she and his sister aren’t quite as different as he thought they might be.

* * *

 

“Thanks for visiting the Tent of Telepathy, folks!” Mabel is glowing under the spotlight and beams out at the crowd. The audience roars with applause and Dipper thinks that this might actually be the best performance that he’s done in years. “Give my lovely co-star some love people!” Her thin fingers curl around his shoulder and snag the cape she’d laughed about for a solid five minutes as she drags him to center stage with him.

“My dear sister, ladies and gentlemen!” It’s not long before they’re getting a standing ovation. He doesn’t think they’ve gotten one of those since before they’d discovered their amulets when they were fifteen. Dipper keeps smiling and waving at the crowd for another minute or two so that Mabel can soak up the attention before he gently nudges her off-stage. As soon as they’re out of the sight of the crowd his sister’s look-like is unclipping the extensions from her hair.

“That was amazing.” Her eyes are bright and there’s a spring in her step as she turns to face him. “You guys do that every night?”

“If she had her way we would.” He smiles tentatively. “We run shows Thursday through Monday.”

“So what you’re saying is we get to do that again tomorrow?” This Mabel’s joy is foreign and makes his gut twist. His sister is fairly easy-going and often has some kind of smile or smirk gracing her features that makes him want to strangle her but not like this. This Mabel is radiating pure joy. She’s absolutely delighted to have gotten to perform with him for no ulterior motive. She’s not going shopping for her newest plaything she’s just buzzed on being applauded.

“If you want.”

“Yeah, that was awesome. I’ve got to hand it to you, that was way more fun than running a tour through the Shack, Superman.”

“For the last time leave the cape alone.” He huffs. He doesn’t know why he’s being so defensive about the piece of clothing. When Mabel had first suggested he wear it when they were young he’d been just as disgusted and amused by the notion. It was just another gimmick to their already cliché show. But it’s his gimmicky cape and he feels the strange urge to defend it. “People tend to gather around back for autographs after shows. Mabel usually makes an appearance.” To steal someone but he won’t ruin this woman’s grin.

“Really? That’s so cool. I’m gonna be a celebrity!”

“You’ll have to put the extensions back in.” Her smile fractures a little at the reminder. The hair extensions had been the only thing that she’d protested all night.

“Right. Will you help me with them?” He watches as the fear and disgust creep back into her eyes and wonders why she treats the hair with such revulsion. He picks up some of the long brown hair and helps her to clip them back in place. It doesn’t take very long and soon she’s back to looking just like his sister.

“Okay. Your public awaits.” Dipper leads her to the back door and sure enough as soon as it’s opened they’re greeted by camera flashes and rambunctious patrions. Whatever melancholy the hair extensions had inspired in his sister’s look-alike dissipates quickly under the attention and he leaves her to it, stepping back from the crowd and just keeping an eye on her from the distance.

“She looks like she had a good time, Master.” Bill says softly as he appears at his side. Dipper glances at the creature with a small frown. The demon’s been appearing more and more often without having been summoned. He hums in response as he watches Mabel pose with a group of preteens for a picture.

She’s softer than his sister but her skin is thicker. His Mabel gave up the light and the glitter when they’d started to become casters. She had thrown herself headlong into the darkness without a second thought and they’d been living there together ever since. This Mabel…. This one still has friends and family, she still has people who love her, and so she toes the line. Dipper wonders if being separated from those people will give her the opportunity to slip over the edge. A hot curl of anticipation licks along his spine. Oh how he would love to see this girl fall into bloodlust. He bets she’ll be even more spectacular at it than his own sister.

“Forgive me Master Dipper, but you seem distracted?”

“Are you actually trying to have a conversation with me, Bill?” The jab is almost playful as he watches Mabel sign autographs and talk to fans.

“I--. Sorry.” The demon goes silent and Dipper glances at him out of the corner of his eye. Bill’s curled in on himself as much as he can and he can see a faint tremble going through his body. His brows pull together and he frowns a little as he looks back over at Mabel Pines. She’d been cooperative today, or at least she had been after breakfast, but he doubts that will last if she finds him abusing the demon again. He’s better than his sister at curbing his violent tendencies and pretending to be normal. He suspects that he’ll need to keep his hands off the demon if he wants her to continue cooperating with him.

“She’s not my sister, but I’m already growing a little fond of her.” He admits to the demon after a moment. Out of the corner of his eye he sees the creature jolt and turn a wide surprised eye on him. “I know you’ve got a soft spot for her already. Keep watching out for her.”

“Yes, Master Dipper.” They watch the woman in silence for another long moment before Dipper hears footsteps in the grass and soon they’re joined by another. He grits his teeth as his good mood evaporates.

“Gleeful, Bill.”

“Hello, Cornflower.” Dipper turns his glare back on the demon who dims and shrinks.

“Don’t greet my demon with such familiarity, Pines.” He snaps at the creampuff. “That being said the useless thing doesn’t know why people aren’t dreaming. Get lost.”

“Thanks for asking I suppose.” Gideon sighs and adjusts his cap. “Who’s that?” He nods in Mabel’s direction.

“You don’t recognize my sister?” He raises a brow.

“That’s not your sister, Gleeful.” Clever little shit.

“It’s also not any of your business, mystery hunter. Now leave before I lose my patients.” Gideon purses his lips and Dipper can see how badly he wants to press the issue so he lets his eyes turn blue and his amulet glow. “Leave, creampuff.” The Pines brat scoffs but he does turn and walk away. The kid’s getting progressively bolder. He’s going to have to take care of that before Gideon gets out of hand. He needs to keep the brat afraid. Dipper scowls at the crowd still hanging around Mabel. Two pet projects this week then, scare the kid back into his place and see how hard he has to push before Mabel Pines slips over the edge. “Make sure she get’s home safe.”

“Of course, Master Dipper.” He departs without another word. This is going to take some careful planning.

* * *

 

“Lee you’ve been down here for almost three days straight.” Ford grumbles as he passes McGucket a screwdriver.

“Mabel’s been in an alternate reality for almost three days straight.” The younger brother counters as he pages through another book on magical theory. He has no idea how Dipper keeps finding these texts but they’re coming in handy so he’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Yeah and she’s fine.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Lee you’re freaking out over absolutely nothing.” Ford leans against one of the control panels close to the toolbox incase Fids needs anything else. “Seriously I haven’t seen you or Dipper this strung out since Cipher. It’s starting to worry me.”

“He’s right Lee.” Fids mutters, his torso buried inside the console he’s working on and his voice echoing strangely against the metal. “If you’re so worried think about it this way: They may have our Mabel but we’ve got theirs too. It’s a hostage situation but we have the advantage of not having to fix the portal to get her back.”

“That only works if their Bill keeps his word and brings her home, which we don’t know if he’ll do.”

“Kid said that Cipher 2.0 guaranteed that everyone would get back to their rightful dimensions.” Ford grunts and gives McGucket a wench when he sticks his hand out.

“And what makes this Bill more reliable than our Bill?” Lee snaps.

“Nothing, but worrying about it doesn’t change the fact that this is all we have to go on right now.” Ford says evenly. “And Lee I am seriously worrying about you now.” Fids pops his head out of the console as the air thickens. “You’re the level-headed ones, you and Dipper, but you two completely lose it anytime something about Cipher comes up and it’s not helpful. We need the poindexters to be focused, not freaking out, if we want to get Mabel back home.” There’s a beat of silence as Lee processes what his brother had said.

“I didn’t expect you to turn into a wise old man while I was gone.”

“Well McGucket went crazy so I figured I had to take up the mantel.” Fids ‘accidentally’ drops the wrench on the con man’s foot. “HOT BELGIAN WAFFLES! What the fuck, McGucket?!”

“Whoops.” The engineer goes back to his work. Lee can’t help but snicker as his brother rubs at his foot and glares at the other man.

“Fine, you two have fun with your science junk. I’ve got a shop to run.” Ford snaps as he heads towards the door.

“Hey, Ford,” Stanley calls as his brother makes his way to the elevator. “Thanks, you always know what to say.” His brother’s shoulders stiffen with embarrassment and he grunts in response as he steps into the service elevator.

“Don’t stay down here all day.” Lee smiles as the doors close and Ford heads up to the Shack. He takes a breath and turns back to the books with fresh eyes.

* * *

 

“I hope you found everything you were looking for.” Dipper says with exaggerated cheer as he rings up the middle aged man who approaches the counter.

“I did, my girls really loved the magician you have.” He jabs a thumb over his shoulder and Dipper follows the finger to spot Mabel Gleeful with a small crowd of people on the other side of the shop.

“I’m glad you enjoyed the performance. That’ll be twenty-three eight-eight.” He says seamlessly, not letting his surprise show. He hadn’t even realized that Mabel had come into the shop. The man hands over a couple of bills and Dipper quickly hands back his change and his purchases. “Thank you for visiting the Mystery Shack, we hope you come again soon.” The man calls for his children and two little girls jog over to his side before they exit the Shack.

“Welcome to the Mystery Shack, the next tour is getting ready to leave! Join us for our tour and see wonders never seen before for the low price of fifteen dollars!” Stan says cheerfully as he enters the room. The group that was surrounding Mabel move over to him chattering excitedly and soon Stan is leading them out into the showroom. With the room empty he calls over to his sister’s look-alike.

“Hey, Mabel?” The woman turns and looks at him and for the first time he sees her smiling. It loosens a knot that he didn’t know was in his stomach.

“Yes?” She walks over to the register and Dipper leans on the counter with a small frown tugging at the edge of his lips.

“One of the customers said you were doing a magic show?”

“Not a show really, it was just a small demonstration.” Her smile melts away in an instant and he sees her eyes close off back into the cold and bitter creature he’s come to know over the past few days. The wave of guilt that hits him makes him nauseous. Wendy was right. They’ve been treating her like a monster, probably him more than anyone else, and she’s been acting like one in response. Bile rolls in his gut as he remembers how terrified his sister was of being treated like a monster and how relieved she had been to know that they all loved her in spite of her darkness. Then he had gone and treated this Mabel….

“So do you and your brother do magic shows then?” He forces himself to smile.

“Yes, we’ve been putting them on since we were kids.”

“You looked like you were having fun. What kind of tricks were you doing?” She hesitates regarding the man with a critical expression. He stares right back at her, trying his best to look earnest and sincere.

“Just a few basic illusions, making a quarter disappear, guessing what the crowd is thinking, nothing that required actual magic.” She tucks her long bangs behind her ear before she too leans against the counter. “I figured you wouldn’t want me showing off.”

“Not in the middle of the gift shop.” He agrees. “Do you like doing the magic shows?”

“I always did.” She says with a whisper of a smile. “My brother dearest has always complained about them though. He’s too busy ‘solving the mysteries of Gravity Falls’ to waltz around stage in a cape.” The smile becomes a bit more pronounced and Dipper can’t help the quiet laugh he lets out when he realizes just how similar he is to his alternate reality double. “But he secretly likes them too. He knows I love performing.”

“Well maybe we could see about setting up a show sometime here.” He offers and Mabel turns surprised eyes on him.

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, if you’re up for it, I’m sure Stan won’t mind if it brings in revenue.” His voice lowers as he goes on. “We haven’t really been the best hosts so far and I’m sorry about that. I was… surprised with your temperament, but that doesn’t excuse my behavior. Maybe while we’re trying to get you home we could try to be friends? I mean you are my sister, sort of, and I don’t want you to be miserable here.” Those eyes are way more intense than his sister’s are and Dipper feels like she’s trying to eviscerate him with her gaze. A few painfully long seconds of silence consume the Shack.

“You’re a goober.” She says decisively and Dipper is nearly floored again with how much she reminds him of twelve year old Pacifica. Her hand covers his and he nearly jolts at the touch. “I would love to do a show.” She squeezes his fingers gently and his chest gets warm. She’s not his sister but…

“Okay.” He places his other hand on top of her and squeezes back. She’s not his sister but she’s close enough.

* * *

 

“Hey so if you’ve got Bill at your fingertips, which you clearly do,” Mabel says as she hangs her head off of the couch so she can look at Dipper upside down. “Why don’t you just order him to tell you about the answer’s you’re looking for?”

“Because that would defeat the purpose.” Gleeful intones dryly as he flips through the first journal and sips at his tea. Tea, seriously, like every cliché posh villain. Bill is sitting on top of the chair and reading over his master’s shoulder and neither of the men had spoken in over an hour. And she’s bored. It’s Tuesday and with no show to look forward to she is completely without anything to pass the time. This Dipper is even more of a bookworm than her brother.

“I don’t get it.” She says honestly. “The purpose is to get the answers you’re looking for, asking the omniscient demon you have bound to you like a slave would make this all go a lot faster.” The blood is starting to rush to her head so she moves to actually sit on the couch like a normal person. Dipper doesn’t deign to respond. “Oh.”

“What now?” He doesn’t look at her but she sees him raise an eyebrow.

“You’re in it for the thrill, not the end result.” She shrugs. “You wouldn’t be happy if you found out everything because that means that everything you’ve been working on for the last eight years would be over.” Her smile turns a little rueful. After meeting Stanley and then discovering and foiling Bill’s plan she knows her brother had been terrified that there wouldn’t be anything else to explore or any more mysteries to solve. Thank goodness that Gravity Falls is always able to provide oddities that put the Shack to shame. She doesn’t know if Dipper would have survived without them. “Who would you be without your mystery hunting?”

“Here.” Dipper takes out his wallet and tosses her a credit card. She wasn’t expecting that response and the plastic hits her in the face before falling into her lap. “Go shopping or get lunch or something, just take your existential nonsense with you.”

“Pfft. You’re no fun.” But this will give her the chance to explore. Come to think of it, with how distracted she’s been with performing she hadn’t even realizes that she’s been cooped up in the manor since her arrival.

“Bill,” Dipper says still without looking up from the journal. “Do you want to go with her?” Mabel bites the inside of her cheek. If the demon comes with her then Dipper’s probably going to ask the demon what she gets up to in town.

“I’m content where I am, Master Dipper.” The demon says quietly. Mabel watches as Dipper eyes soften, just the slightest bit, at the edges. She wonders if he even realizes what’s happening. Her brother certainly hadn’t. But the energy building between them reminds her of human hearts in tupperware and mangy spell books. It makes the abuse more jarring and the lingerie up in other Mabel’s closet more confusing.

“Will you be fine on your own?” Dipper asks, finally looking up from the journal.

“Yeah.” They’re both well-aware that she can take care of herself, but the concern is touching at the very least.

“The keys are in the bowl by the door.”

“I think I’ll walk, actually.” She says with a glance out the window. It looks like a beautiful day.

“Fine, just remember to take a house key. I should be here when you get back, but just in case.”

“Okay, have fun with your old books and leaf water.”

“Don’t take candy from strangers.” Mabel snorts a little as she heads to the door. Accepting gifts from demons is what holds the real danger. She glances over her shoulder and sees Bill’s moved to get a closer look at the text, hovering just above Dipper’s shoulder. The boys talk in quiet tones and the demon doesn’t stutter and the human doesn’t lash out. Her heart clenches a little. Bill’s already in deep and she can see her not-brother is heading in the same direction even if he doesn’t know it yet.

* * *

 

She doesn’t really know where she’s planning on going because at first glance the town seems exactly the same. The only real differences are the people she passes. She spots Wendy hanging out around the arcade with her gang, her eyes smeared with dark shadows and her lips painted a rich plum color. Her hair is chopped short and her usual flannel and jeans have been replaced with leather leggings and a studded crop top. The redhead must feel that she’s being watched because she looks up and stares back for a long moment. Mabel doesn’t know quite how to respond. She would usually wave, she wants to do that at the very least, but she doesn’t know if that’s what Mabel Gleeful would do. She doesn’t know what the relationship between the Mabel and Wendy of this dimension is like. But after a moment Wendy gives her a single nod before turning back to her friends. Mabel watches them for another moment before she turns and continues on her way.

She has a few more strange moments as she walks through the streets. She comes across Robbie, wearing a bowtie and sweater vest and looking downright cheerful, and Lazy Susan whose eye is not lazy and who runs the massively successful Greasy’s that looks like it’s been recently remodeled. Things are different here, just not as different as she’d thought. As she walks people pass by and whisper excitedly and try to snap photos discreetly a few actually approach her to get her autograph. The Gleeful twins are like celebrities, like Gideon was before the town realized the truth about him. Mabel smiles obligingly for the pictures and signs whatever she’s asked to before she moves on. This isn’t as thrilling as she thought it would be and for a split second she wishes that Dipper or Bill had come with her. Bill would have given her history lessons on the people here and explained their strangeness. Dipper would have probably just scowled and been a general pest, but it would have been fun to tease him at the very least.

Mabel glances across the street and spots the bakery that Dipper had brought the cupcakes from a few days ago and her mood lightens. She crosses the street quickly and feels his credit card burning a hole in her pocket. She wonders how furious he would be if she brought home four or five boxes of baked goods.

“Welcome to Sweetie Pies,” A cheerful voice greets as she steps inside. The shop is relatively small with only the wall of sweets behind the counter and then a small seating area with three tables. The smell of sweet pastries and coffee assaults her nose and makes her mouth water. “Oh hello there, Miss. Gleeful.” She turns her attention to the woman behind the counter and tenses.

“Daliah,” is her surprised response. The werewolf just smiles at her as she leans on the counter.

“Did you and your brother have another spat?”

“What?”

“Well he came in for apology cupcakes the other day.”

“Oh, yeah, that was just a misunderstanding.” Mabel approaches the counter and her eyes roam over the assortment of goodies. Pies, cakes, cupcakes, donuts, cinnamon rolls, cookies, the shop seems to have anything a sweet tooth could ever want. “But he did kick me out for being ‘distracting’ so I was thinking of pulling a little prank on him.”

“Ah, so do you want Parker to make the ‘sweeter than revenge’ delivery then?”

“What?”

“I’ll get him to drop off the usual two of everything.” The woman says with a raised brow. Mabel shouldn’t really be surprised to find out that her alternate self has the same ideas but the fact it’s become something of a routine to the wolf is endlessly amusing.

“That sounds perfect. Can I also get a dozen assorted cookies for now?”

“Sure thing Miss. Gleeful.” Daliah says pleasantly. “We should have everything there in two hours. I need to whip up another German chocolate cake.” Mabel passes over Dipper’s credit card.

“Sounds perfect. Thanks.”

“No problem, enjoy.” Mabel takes the bag of cookies and heads towards the door with a smile. She can’t wait to see the look on his face. The afternoon sunlight is just as radiant as it was a few minutes ago when she had first entered the shop and her eyes need a moment to adjust to the brightness. She blinks and sees a long blonde pony disappearing around the corner. She knows that blonde hair, even across dimensions, and immediately takes off after the other woman.

“Pacifica!” She calls as she chases the girl down the street. The girl ahead takes a sharp left turn and darts into the alley behind an exercise studio. Mabel follows and skids to a stop when she spots the blonde fumbling with a set of keys. “Pacifica, hey.” The blonde makes a distressed squeak, like a startled mouse, as she drops her keys.

“W-what do you want Mabel?” She stutters as she bends over to retrieve her keys.

“I just, I wanted to say ‘hi’.” Mabel bites the inside of her cheek. “I’m not the Mabel you’re thinking of.” She says slowly.

“What are you talking about?” Pacifica finally turns scared blue eyes to her and Mabel can’t breathe. She swallows hard and turns her attention to the bricks lining the buildings.

“I’m not Mabel Gleeful, I’m Mabel Pines. I’m from an alternate reality and I’ve been staying with Dipper Gleeful until his sister can get home from my reality.”

“You… you realize how insane that sounds?”

“Yeah I know. But I’m really not Mabel Gleeful.” She gestures at her hair. “Short hair, pink amulet. It’s not the best evidence but it’s all I have.” Pacifica inspects her for a few long minutes and Mabel does the same to her. The blonde has her long hair tied into a high pony with a neon green scrunchie. Her ankles are adorned in bright fuchsia leg warmers and her eyelids covered in metallic aqua shadows. She looks like she’s going to an 80’s themed party. Her Pacifica would never be caught dead in an outfit like that. Mabel glances at the girl's left hand and doesn’t know if she’s relieved or disappointed by the lack of engagement ring.

“If you were Mabel you would have insulted me or used magic by now.” Pacifica admits slowly. “But I don’t know….” She tugs at her sleeves. “What do you want?”

“Just to talk, I haven’t really gotten to talk to anyone except for Dipper and Bill since I got here. I want to know more about this place.”

“If you want to talk we should do it at the Shack….” Pacifica sighs but the fear in her eyes doesn’t lessen. “Let me grab my backpack.” She finally jams the keys into the lock and opens the door. “Did you say your name was ‘Pines’?”

“Yeah.” The blonde snorts.

“Oh he’s going to love that.”

* * *

 

Once the Shack closes for the night Dipper heads back to his room to keep working on the wards for the portal. Getting Mabel Gleeful home is a priority but the fact that Bill might still be able to return to their world weighs heavily on everyone’s shoulders. He works through his books and makes annotations on sticky notes if he sees anything that might be useful and on anything that he wants a second opinion about. He works for almost an hour before he realizes that someone’s opened his door.

Mabel stands in the doorway and watches her brother’s doppelganger as he works. It’s easy to forget that this isn’t her brother as she watches him comb through his books. He sticks a pen between his teeth as he flips the page. She glances around the room and her eyes fall on the extra bed. She and Dipper had never shared a room on a permanent basis. It would have made their Great Uncle too suspicious in their teenage years and they probably would have killed each other. Her brother is too particular to cohabitate with. But the extra bed in this room… it gives her hope. She’s never pictured a world where she and her brother didn’t mean everything to one another and the idea that there is a Mabel in love with someone else makes her stomach twist and rage tingle along her skin. But maybe… just maybe…. Dipper finally looks up and starts when he sees her standing in the doorway.

“Oh hey.” He greets and she wants to say something in return but she’s tongue tied for the first time in her life. “Uh, it’s actually cool that you stopped by, do you think you could help me with this?” She moves over to his side slowly and looks down at the passage he’s indicating. Dipper pushes a few of his books to the side so that she can perch on the bed beside him. “I’m not as powerful of a caster as Mabel is, and I don’t have the ability to make new spells, but do you think that’s something within your capabilities?”

“Maybe.” Dipper looks over at Mabel then. The woman’s voice is soft and distant and when their eyes meet he’s astounded by the softness that he sees there. He’s never seen his sister look at anyone like that except for her fiancee.

Maybe, she thinks with a quiet desperation, the marriage to Pacifica is a front. Maybe because this version of them has so many people watching them they felt they had to make the illusion more elaborate. Maybe they still mean the world to each other. She presses her palm to his cheek and gently scrapes her nails over his skin as she leans in. He jolts, startled, when her lips cover his own. She kisses him softly, with a gentleness her own brother would sneer at, as he sits ridged under her touch.

He wasn’t expecting this. Then again, most people wouldn’t be expecting an alternate dimension version of their sister to kiss them. Dipper is still as her lips move gently against his own and he thinks that his heart might have stopped at some point. The kiss is so soft and sweet that it makes his chest ache. She touches his cheek like he’s glass and he’s got to pull away. He doesn’t push her back roughly or knock away her hand when he retreats. Dipper just moves away from the woman slowly and swallows hard. Mabel stares back at him, searching.

“I’m not sure what things are like in your world,” he says as gently as possible. There’s no reason to attack her and he doesn’t think he could bring himself to anyway, not while she’s looking at him like that. Like every word is imploding her world no matter how he says them. “But that’s not something siblings do here.”

“Right.” She replies slowly but doesn’t move her hand

“That can’t happen again, Mabel.” He asserts a little more firmly, trying not to let on that his heart is pounding and that he’s on the verge of a panic attack with his entire mind howling in confused shock. Dipper watches the soft expression melt off of the woman’s face and morph back into the cunning vicious sneer that he’d seen on her when she’d ripped out Bill’s eye.

“Of course.” Her smile is made of broken glass as her nails curl into his cheek. She shoves his face away from her as she stands. “As for your question, your sister or I can create a warding spell, but we can’t cast it. Warding has always been your area of expertise.” She leaves the room without a backwards glance and Dipper is left still feeling the sting of her nails in his cheek and the soft press of her lips against his own.

* * *

 

“Hey Mr. Pines.” Pacifica greets Bud as the two girls arrive at the Shack.

“Well hey there doll, Gideon’s out back with that book of his.”

“Okay, thanks.” Pacifica heads around the side of the Shack and Mabel follows close behind. It feels strange to be here and know that this isn’t her home.

They round the corner and immediately spot the white haired man sitting at one of the picnic tables. He has a Mystery Shack cap on his head like the one Dipper used to wear, the only difference being the blue star that replaces the tree. He wears plain blue jeans and a tee shirt and his hair is sticking out from the cap wildly, like it hasn’t been combed in a while. Mabel has to take a deep breath as she tries to forget what his head had looked like hanging between Bill’s hands and the feel of his blood misting over them all when she had vaporized his corpse. A wave of dizziness slams into her and she instinctively reaches out to grab Pacifica’s arm. The girl jolts at the sudden touch and starts to jerk away but something stops her.

“Oh jeez, what’s wrong?” She asks as she takes the brunette’s elbow and guides her over to the table. “You’ve gotten really pale, are you alright?”

“Pacifica, who’s--? Mabel?” She can’t look at this Gideon. She let’s Pacifica sit her down on the bench and puts her head between her knees as she tries to control her breathing.

This is not their Gideon. This Gideon never threatened her or her brother. This Gideon has never broken her arm. This Gideon has never died. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She lies and her voice shakes. “I’m okay. Sorry about the bad first impression.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” The concern in the man’s voice is genuine and Mabel forces herself to look at him.

“Yeah, I’m working through some stuff.” The smile she offers is weak at best. “I’m Mabel Pines, it’s nice to meet you.”

“‘Pines’?”

“She says she’s from an alternate reality.” Pacifica says to the other mystery hunter.

“That would explain it.” Gideon sighs. “I went to talk to Gleeful a couple days ago and saw her. I didn’t think she was normal Mabel, and Dipper didn’t deny it.” He turns his attention back to her. “What are you doing here?”

“Mabel Gleeful is trapped in my dimension and it’s too dangerous for us both to be there so I came here.” She says, each word helping her control her breathing a little better.

“As for why I’m here, I wanted to get to know the Pacifica from this reality. We’re close back home.” She shoots the girl a weary smile.

“Really?” Both the mystery hunters inquire incredulously.

“What about me?” She hears the crack of bone and feels the spray of blood hitting her face as she stares at Gideon Pine’s wide fascinated eyes.

“Not so much.” Mable says in a whisper. “But I think we need to talk.”

* * *

 

“I can’t wrap my head around an evil Gideon.” Pacifica says quietly some time later. “I mean look at this face!” She smashes her and Gideon’s cheeks together as she wraps her arms around his neck. “He’s way too adorable to try and end the world!”

“Hey, stop that!” The man struggles for a moment before sighing and letting the blonde continue to squeeze him tightly. “Besides a nice Mabel is just as unbelievable but here we are. Sitting with a hero.”

“A hero?” Mabel forces her lips to stretch into a grin. “I like the sound of that.” She lies as her stomach twists.

“So how much has Gleeful told you about our world?” Pacifica asks as she finally releases Gideon and helps herself to another cookie.

“Just a bit. I know that your Gravity Falls isn’t as rough as ours.”

“Okay now I think you’re just trying to insult us.” Gideon snorts.

“I’m not trying to offend you, I’m just stating fact. None of you have seen the conflict that we have.” She replies calmly, fingers straying up to touch her amulet and immediately seeking out the imperfection. The crack is warm against the pad of her finger. “Dipper said that the forest is usually quiet because the creatures know they’ve bound a demon.”

“He would say that.” Gideon snaps as he scrubs his hand over his face. “Look, Dipper Gleeful is dangerous.”

“I sort of gathered that on my own, thanks.” Mabel mutters as her gaze strays over to Pacifica. The blonde is scowling at the grass and her hands are curled into fists resting against the wooden bench.

“The forest is usually quiet because the creatures know that the Gleefuls are ruthless monster who will kill unprovoked.” The Pines girl stills.

“Excuse me?”

“He and Mabel are notorious for kidnapping and torturing people after their performances and they’ll wipe out entire species of forest creatures if they get in the way.” Pacifica says quietly without looking at her. “When we were fifteen, after their parents accident, I tried to cheer Mabel up. I thought that she would feel a little better if we went and I let her cream me in minigolf. The lilputtians still had a vendetta against us then and when they attacked she slaughtered them all.”

“Self-defense.” Mabel tries to defend but her heart isn’t in it. She’s known from the get go that there was something off with the Gleefuls.

“It’s not defense when they’re running screaming!” Pacifica snaps and Gideon takes her hand.

“You’re right.” The short-haired woman sighs. “So they torture people huh?” And she had let Dipper play her. Completely. For the first time the trust she placed in her sibling-not her sibling-had come back to bite her. The rage boils deep at her core and she keeps it there. Hidden. These two already have enough trust issues with the Gleefuls to make them suspicious of her, no need to really frighten them by showing her true colors. “Is that what they did to Grunkle Stan?” The thought of it makes her skin feel wrong.

“Dipper all but shouted it to the heavens about a week ago.” Gideon sighs.

“Thanks for talking with me.” Mabel says as she gets to her feet. “I have something to take care of. Can I come by again sometime while I’m still around?” Gideon looks hesitant but Pacifica jabs an elbow into his ribs.

“Of course you can.” She says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Anytime you want.” And in a quiet voice she adds, “Whatever you’re going to do, be careful.”

“Thanks.” Mabel returns the smile before she heads back towards the front of the house. The rage is coming to the surface, spreading through her veins like hot tar, and she can’t control the tremble in her voice when she calls out, “Bill.” It doesn’t take more than a handful of seconds for the demon to appear in front of her.

“Mabel, oh, Master Dipper is furious, “ The demon says in way of greeting. “He wasn’t expecting you to use the bakery to get revenge on him.”

“Bill I need you to take a message to my brother.” Her voice is cold and she sees the demon flinch and his eye widen as he looks at her. “Can you do that for me?”

“Of course, Mabel.” The blue triangle says softly, glow dimming slightly.

“I need something to write with.”

* * *

 

The last thing she wants to do after being rejected by Dipper is attend the Pines’ weekly family gathering, but Mabel ends up standing at the the edge of the festivities all the same. Summer must call for endless barbecues in this world because everything the Pines do screams ‘routine’. From Stanford grilling the food Stanley prepared, to Soos, Wendy, Candy, and Grenda setting up lawn games, to Pacifica sitting on the sidelines refereeing, all of them seem to move without thought. She’s not entirely sure where her brother’s doppelganger has snuck off to but that suits her just fine. It’s a little strange to her that even though neither Dipper or Mabel Pines are present the festivities continue without any noticeable difference. She wonders if either of the twins are aware of that fact and how they would react to it. Would they be pleased that their friends are close enough to stay together in their absence or despair with the knowledge that they’re presence is inconsequential?

“Do you have gatherings like this back home?” She glances at the blonde out of the corner of her eye.

“No.”

“We started doing this after the twin’s sixteenth birthday. Do you think you’ll start having them someday?” Pacifica traces her nails along the grooves of her cup. Whatever’s inside the glass looks more like a science experiment than a drink. It’s a bright pink color and she swears that it’s sparkling in early evening sunlight as dinosaur shaped ice cubes bob lazily on the surface.

“I don’t think so.” She represses a shudder when she watches Pacifica take a sip of the liquid that looks too thick to be pleasant. “Why only after their sixteenth birthday?”

“Well, that was really just when a lot of stuff reached it’s climax.” Pacifica looks at her out of the corner of her eye. “Has anyone told you anything about our history?”

“Not really.” Because no one trusts her. Because they’re scared of her. For a little while that had been fun but now she’s starting to get annoyed. These people are boring.

“Well, the twins befriended Bill when they were fifteen and he started teaching them magic around then. Hanging out with Bill encouraged Mabel to come talk to me so we could get over our past differences and be friends.” A small smile forms on the blonde’s face and Mabel resists the urge to light her on fire. “By the time the twins turned sixteen a lot of stuff just came to head, Mabel and I started dating, Bill started courting Dipper, they were halfway through their magic training, and we’d all fought enough monsters together that we really couldn’t be separated. The family gatherings just started when they came back the first day of summer and they never really stopped.” Mabel frowns as she listens to Pacifica speak.

“Bill courted Dipper?”

“Wow, nobody’s told you anything.” Pacifica looks around, perhaps hoping to find someone better-suited for this conversation but eventually settles on just glaring at the Shack. “Dipper and Bill dated until about a year or so ago when Bill decided to try and end the world. It was,” her lips are pulled into a thin line and her fingers are curled around her glass a little tighter than necessary. “It was really bad. He almost killed Mabel, and the rest of us.” Pacifica clears her throat and tosses her hair over her shoulder. “But I guess, in a weird way we started having these gatherings because of Bill. Nobody likes to talk about it, and I’m hoping you won’t bring it up with anyone else, but a lot of the reason that we are who we are now is because of Bill.”

“Well then I doubt that family gatherings are anywhere in my future.” She replies coldly as she mulls over the new information. “Your Bill must have been very different than mine.”

“I don’t know, really, we didn’t talk much. He always made me nervous, but he cared about Mabel and Dipper, he always made that very clear. Up until the minute he decided he couldn’t take that risk anymore.” Pacifica looks out at the rest of the family and there’s a wistful sadness that comes over her features. Perhaps she’d been mistaken when she’d made the assumption that the gathering was going on according to routine, that no one noticed the missing members of the party. The way Pacifica stares makes her wonder where Dipper and Bill might have fit in and what this dimension’s Mabel would have been doing.

“As enlightening as this has been,” the brunette stands from the table as nonchalantly as she can manage. There’s a worm of discomfort inching through her veins and she doesn’t want to be around the fianceé any longer. “Perhaps you should go back to enjoying the company of your friends.” It’s not a subtle dismissal

“You could try socializing with them.” Pacifica retorts just as levelly. “It might be uncomfortable since they aren’t the same as your friends back home,”

“I don’t have friends back home.” She sniffs. Other people don’t make good friends they only make good toys and beautiful fires.

“Oh, that must be lonely.” There’s no pity in the statement which somehow riles Mabel even more.

“I have my brother.”

“Hmm, well I guess that’s something.” Pacifica doesn’t look up at her and for a moment Mabel nearly loses control and attacks the girl again. Who does she think she is, trying to make her brother’s devotion sound like a consolation prize! Her eyes blaze and her hands get warm with her gathering magic but… she doesn’t strike. These people have been so boring, and only now are they starting to be a little more entertaining as they lower their guards. Killing this woman would end that instantaneously. She releases the power she’d been gathering, although her hands stay curled into fists at her sides. The caster doesn’t say anything as she turns and heads back inside before she does something rash. She wonders if anyone would notice if she left for a few hours. She really wants to set someone on fire.

* * *

It’s been a long day. Dipper’s eyes are burning from exhaustion and there’s a knot between his shoulders that’s growing progressively worse as he continues to lean over his books. His fingers twitch as he resists the urge to reach up and touch his lips again as if that will somehow rid him of the memory of Mable’s kiss. The mystery hunter sucks in a deep breath but his chest still feels too tight. He can hear the sounds of his friends outside having their weekly cookout but he doesn’t go to join them. Would they be able to tell? They’ve known each other so long he’s sure they would be able to see how shaken he is and he has no doubt they would realize Mabel Gleeful was the cause.  
The lamp on the bedside table begins to rattle and Dipper looks up with a sinking in his stomach. Color is sucked out of the room and the dread becomes laced with panic. He’s not ready for this, not today, maybe not ever. He can’t deal with the dream demon right now. But sure enough there’s a crackle of energy and the color spills back into the room as Bill appears. Dipper takes another deep breath and sits up a little straighter. The demon is unaccompanied and he feels a pang of longing. He misses Mabel.

“Hi, Bill.” He greets blandly.

“Hello.” The demon replies quietly as he floats closer. He looks better than he did the last time they saw each other. Being away from his Mistress is serving him well.

“What’s up? Is Mabel okay?”

“Mabel’s doing very well.” This Bill is too polite for his taste. “She sent you a message.” The demon snaps his fingers and a scrap of folded paper appears in a burst of blue flames. Dipper snatches it out of the air a little too eagerly and immediately opens it. As he reads his stomach turns sour. Bill doesn’t say anything as he makes his way through the letter through Mabel’s uncharacteristically sloppy writing which speaks of the rage she’d felt while writing this. He makes his way through the blunt statements informing him that Dipper and Mabel Gleeful are serial killers. He feels a flicker of anger at the realization but a calm settles over his skin as he re-folds the note and slips it into his nightstand drawer. After spending the past eight years fighting for their lives and killing in defense he can’t really bring himself to feel particularly shocked or disgusted.

“Thanks for bringing me this. Is Mabel safe there?”

“My master has no intentions of harming her.”

“Okay. Will you tell her to be careful and that we’ll bring her home soon?”

“Of course.” Bill hesitates a moment. “How is my mistress?” Dipper snorts a little.

“She’s pretty off. But I don’t know, I don’t know what she acts like back home.”

“A little off.” The demon agrees. “Has… has anyone gone missing?”

“You mean has she tortured and killed anyone around here? No. Not that I know of.”

“It would be wise to keep an eye on her….” Bill wrings his hands together nervously and glances towards the door. “If she becomes too bored it’s likely she’ll seek her own means of entertainment. Usually Master Dipper is able to keep her distracted when it’s not opportune but I don’t think you’ll be able to do so effectively.” Dipper’s stomach gives a little flip.

“Are they..? She kissed me, earlier.”

“They are devoted to one another.” Bill says as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Maybe to them it is, but it makes pain build behind Dipper’s temple.

“Thanks for bringing me the message.” It’s a clear dismissal and the demon blinks out of existence without further prompting. The brown haired man flops back on his bed and throws up an arm to cover his eyes. He had thought about going and joining his friends and family outside but now…. It’s been a long day. Dipper doesn’t bother to put away the books from earlier just settles into his mattress and closes his eyes tightly. Maybe the world will make sense again in the morning. Maybe the bed beside his own won’t be empty then. He pushes the thought from his mind, too old and too tired for fanciful dreaming, and absolutely does not remember the pressure of a demon sitting on his chest as he falls asleep.

* * *

 

He feels like there are ants squirming under his skin and the frustration leaks out of him in small ticks he’s sure Mabel’s noticed. Not that she says anything. No. The Pines girl has gone back to her distrusting glares and subtle flinches anytime he comes too close. The kitchen is still filled with sweets and he would have thrown them out by now if it wasn’t for the pleased look Mabel had when she tried something new, a pleased look that instantaneously vanished the moment she’d realized that he’d been at the threshold of the room. They haven’t shared a meal together in two days and she’d informed him the previous night that he should cancel the magic shows for the week or else he’d be doing a solo act.

Dipper grits his teeth and tosses the journal back onto the table as he brings his hands up to rub at his temples. The teacup rattles softly on its saucer. He glares at it, as if that will somehow make the object disappear. Another thing in his life that’s a source of his frustration. The tea had been prepared by Cipher. He hadn’t asked the demon to do so, he had never asked the demon to make him tea in all the years he’s been bound. Even he would admit making a divine being do such a menial task would be an abuse of his power. But Bill had appeared not half an hour ago, taken one look at Dipper’s furrowed brow and tense shoulders, and immediately floated over to the stove to put the kettle on. He’d put in just the right amount of sugar and cream into his favorite tea served in his favorite cup before leaving without a word. Dipper had been too stunned to speak. The demon has been acting increasingly worrisome over the past few weeks, since before Mabel Pines had arrived, and even more so after. His fingers twitch with the dull urge to throw the teacup and watch it shatter against the wall so that he can see the liquid splash over the wood and listen to the soft ping of china fragments hitting the floor. He curbs the feeling when he sees Mabel pass the doorway.

“Going out?” Again? She’d only woken up an hour ago and last night she’d only returned to sleep.

“It looks like a nice day.” Comes the clipped response. He can’t see her from where he sits and he knows she’s deliberately placed a wall between them.

“Do you want some company?”

“No. Nice days tend to be ruined by the company of murderers.” She doesn’t wait for a response as she moves down the hall and out the door. He hears it shut with a click and he still hasn’t found his voice yet. Dipper leans back in his chair feeling a cold wave of anger twisting his gut. So that’s what’s bothering her. Someone spilled the beans and he knows with a certainty screaming from his bones that someone was the creampuff. The magician scoffs a little at himself. He knew that the brat had forgotten his place and was becoming emboldened and he had known that he needed to deal with that. But he hadn’t. He had gotten too distracted by Mabel, by the journals, the bunker, by Bill of all things. Well. He finally picks up the tea and takes a sip of the lukewarm liquid. There’s no way that he’s going to get answers out of her if he plays nice, not now that she knows he’s a monster. That’s fine. He’s never been very good at being nice anyway. Now he’s going to bring her down to his level. She’s been toeing the line for a long while, years probably, he wonders how long it will take him to push her headlong into the darkness and grins into his cup at the thought of the challenge.

* * *

 

The bad thing about avoiding Dipper means that she has to avoid the manor. This leaves her trapped in town with her wandering aimless and bored as she searches for something to do. People don’t talk to her really, and if they do it’s because they’re tourists looking for autographs. But people like Wendy, McGucket, Soos, and Candy, when she’d passed them on the street had either made eye contact and nodded or they strode away quickly without a backwards glance. It makes a small knot of sadness in her stomach but she doesn’t linger on it. There’s no point in trying to convince the entire town that she’s not Mabel Gleeful.

Even as bored as she is it’s not very hard for her to decide where she wants to go. Pacifica and Gideon are working today until five so she holds off on heading to the Mystery Shack and makes her way into the forest. She passes by Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland and her skin crawls with the way they glare at her as she goes past. Mabel straightens up and squares her shoulders offering a simple,

“Good afternoon officers.” As she continues on her way. The two men are dressed in their uniforms, looking impeccable, not a sign of spilled coffee or any lingering sprinkles like the police officers from her home. They also have quite a space between them which strikes her as vaguely disconcerting. The Durland and Blubs she knows are joined at the hip. The sheriff scoffs as she continues on her way but Durland openly sneers at her. Her mouth tightens in a thin line and she doesn’t give the two men a backwards glance. So it seems like they know about the Gleeful’s extracurricular activities as well but clearly don’t have anything to act on. She supposes it would be hard to arrest a couple of serial killers whose modus operandi is to kill with magic.

When her feet hit the soft dirt of the forest floor it’s like the earth sucks the tension straight out of her body. She takes a deep breath and lets the rich scent of damp soil and decaying wood wash over her as she walks. The sun kisses her skin and for just a moment she could really believe she’s in the forest back home. But then she’s opening her eyes, taking a closer look, listening with a sharper ear, and there it is. The undeniable proof that she’s still in a strange dimension that feels all wrong.

Rather than the copious sounds of life that usually greet her in the trees the forest has gone too quiet. Wind gently ruffles the tree leaves but there are no squirrels, or birds, or bugs, nothing moves. Everything here is so terrified of her and that’s a change of pace that makes her snort. Since she was twelve she’s been fighting for her life in these woods, she’s killed countless creatures, been merciless and ruthless in protecting her family, and still she has to deal with a Gremloblin nearly once a month. This Dipper and Mabel mutilate a few dozen humans and have a demon on a leash and the entire forest cowers at their might? This world is pathetic. Bitterness is a physical entity as is settles heavily over her shoulders and coats her mouth with a sour taste. Still, no matter how cruel her counterpart is she doesn’t want them to go through the same trails she and Dipper have faced. Maybe only to show she is not as cruel as Mabel Gleeful.

Her feet carry her through the silent trees with an absent minded determination. In fact she doesn’t realize where she’s gone until she’s standing with a cold sweat on her skin and a pounding heart at the mouth of the cave. Her vision is blurry in a way that makes her incapable of telling if she’s on the verge of passing out or if she’d going to start crying. Neither reaction would really surprise her.

“What do you want, Gleeful?” The rumbling voice that echos out of the cave makes breathing even harder. The Multibear emerges from the cave and all of his eyes are glaring down at her. This bear has matted black fur and scars all over his body. His eyes are crimson and he looks every inch the monster that he had ought to be. A sob chokes her on its way out of her throat and she doesn’t particularly care that this isn’t her friend. She throws her arms around him, knocking against one of his noses in the process, and squeezes him tight. The creature doesn’t seem to know what to do with her and after a few minutes of having his fur cried on he stops growling. He’s not the same grandfatherly figure that she’d known, but at least he’s still alive. Maybe her Multibear would still be alive if he’d avoided them from the start.

* * *

 

The Mystery Shack stands in all of its shabby glory that it has for the past forty years and Dipper Gleeful approaches the building with a barely concealed look of disgust. It’s not especially busy today but he still waits until the tour group has left with Bud Pines to go into the forest before he enters the shop. Gideon is restocking bumper stickers while Pacifica lounges behind the counter bopping along to whatever’s playing in her headphones as she flips through a magazine. Gideon looks up when the bell over the door rings and drops the stack of stickers he’d been holding. Dipper gives him a cold smile before he sends out a burst of magic to disable the electronics. It won’t do him any good for this to get caught on the security tapes. Pacifica finally turns her attention away from the magazine when her walkman dies and when she looks up she stands sharply and turns wide eyes on the men.

“Gleeful.” The creampuff greets trying to sound like he’s not terrified and failing.

“I heard that my sister came by the other day.” He takes a few steps closer and smiles serenely. “Well she’s not really my sister I suppose she told you that.”

“You need to leave Dipper, we’re working.” Pacifica says quickly, obviously hoping to keep the situation from escalating.

“Pacifica I think you should take your break now.” Gideon says while giving her a sharp glance.

“I don’t think so.” Dipper waves a hand and all the doors and windows snap shut and lock. “ I know just how noble the pair of you are and it’s been causing me quite a few problems lately, Pines.” He straightens his tie. “I’m not really fond of sending messages like a nineteen-twenties gangster but at this point I don’t have much of a choice in the matter.”

It’s effortless to throw the creampuff across the shop. Pacifica shouts something but he quickly sends her flying as well. They both land with a loud crash against the far wall, shelves of inventory collapsing on top of them. A thick heavy glass jar filled with eyeballs makes to drop on top of their heads but he stops it with a flick of his wrist. His heart jumps a little. He doesn’t want them dead, not just yet. Dipper lets the jar drop near their heads and a few shards of glass catch the mystery hunters across their faces but the wounds don’t look too serious.

“I could threaten to come back if you make pests of yourselves again, but I don’t think that’s necessary.” He turns on his heel and exits the shop without a backwards glance at the bruised and battered pair lying half-buried on the floor.

* * *

 

“Dipper?” The man jumps half out of his seat when Mabel enters the kitchen. The mystery hunter glances over at the woman and his stomach twists. Half of him is worried that she’s going to be covered in blood now that he knows exactly how ruthless she and her brother are and half of him can’t forget the feeling of her lips pressed against his.

“Yeah?” He sets his spoon beside his cereal and gives her his full attention.

“About the magic show we were talking about the other day,” Dipper almost wants to give a sigh of relief. Then he’s promptly reminded of the note still shoved in his nightstand drawer and the information that Mabel Gleeful tends to shop for victims after performing. “Do you think I might be able to put one on Saturday night?”

“Saturday night?” Night sounds like a bad idea. Night means darkness, and darkness means that Mabel might be able to sneak off and butcher someone while he’s not looking.

“I don’t know. That’s not really a lot of time to get everything together.” The crestfallen look that comes over her face would have made him feel guilty she was his sister. “I mean don’t you need a stage, props, lights, and stuff like that?” He thinks back to Mabel’s sock opera and the five straight days of work done and Mabel Juice drunk just to get that ready on time. There’s no way they can pull something like that together in two days.

“I can handle that.” She says with a small shrug but her enthusiasm is gone.

“Well just check with Stan first and if he gives the go ahead then we can start getting ready for it.” If he can get Wendy to take care of tickets, Soos to work the lights, while Candy and Grenda help backstage, then he, Stan, Stanley, Pacifica, and Old Man McGucket can all keep an eye on everyone and make sure that no one goes missing. Maybe he can even plan something after the show to keep Mabel busy so that she can’t arrange to kidnap someone afterwards. “I think the original Mystery Trio are all down in the lab right now, but we’re closed so the vending machine should be propped.” He informs her casually as he turns back to his soggy Cheerios.

“Okay, thanks Dipper.” She doesn’t press any further but her fingers graze their way across his arm as she walks away. Gooseflesh immediately springs to life on his arm and he frowns down at his breakfast, suddenly feeling too unsettled to consider eating another bite.

* * *

 

The Multibear had been significantly startled by her hugging and sobbing and as soon as she had let go of him he’d turned tail and disappeared back into his cave. But that had been hours ago and Mabel’s eyes have been dry for a long while. She stays in the forest until the moon is hanging high above her and takes advantage of the silence to practice her weaker spells. This fiasco only proves that she and Dipper won’t always be together when they get into trouble and she knows her defensive spells are pitiful. She could easily be killed if something catches her off guard. The brunette caster spends hours sitting in the grass throwing up barriers around herself. It’s the first time she’s had to use verbal spells to concentrate her magic in years. By the time she stops her fingers are going shiney with fresh burns and she guesses it’s somewhere around midnight. For a split second she focuses her hearing, expecting to hear some faint clapping and a cheerful voice saying,

“Not bad, Shooting Star.”

But the words never come. Her teacher, her friend, he’s still long gone. Mabel shakes off the wave of nostalgia and the pang of anger that both rise with the memory and gets to her feet. She doesn’t linger once she decides to head back to the Gleeful manner and makes her way through the empty streets of Gravity Falls like walking through a dream. She doesn’t usually roam the streets at night at home, sometimes doing so is too dangerous. No matter how many times they fight the monsters from the forest she’s always keenly aware that they could still die, and she’d rather not invite the tragedy. But here the streets are silent and deserted. No raccoons picking through the trash, no teenagers breaking curfew to paint big muffins on the water tower, no gnomes, thank god, stealing pies off of windowsills. This Gravity Falls is quiet and afraid. Afraid of the monsters living in town rather than the ones lingering in the treeline.

Entering the house makes her sick to her stomach. Just knowing what goes on here, because the Gleefuls have to be killing people here there’s no way they could sneak people around town without the use of the Multibear’s caves, makes her want to burn the house down. She sniff the air and then sniffs again as she catches the scent of candles burning. Maybe Dipper will fulfill her wish by being too careless with a wick. Mabel only intends to glance around the corner into the living room to see what he’s doing but she’s stopped short.

The living room floor has been covered in a painter’s tarp and the furniture with plastic to keep it clean. On the table sits the candles that she had smelled from the hall and a large pewter bowl. Blood, some browned with age and some fresh and bright and still slithering down the side of the metal, glistens on the surface of the bowl, on Dipper’s hands, on the knife that he’s using to cut deeper into the heart. Mabel admits that she’s never taken an anatomy class in her life, but she’d seen her share of hearts and the one that Dipper is holding in his hands is definitely human. And fresh. She doesn’t know if anger or disgust is going to win out at seeing his horribly stereotypical evil warlock display but both make her linger in the doorway too long. Gleeful notices her and looks up. For a split second before he realizes that he’s not alone he looks frustrated, but as soon as he registers Mabel’s presence in the doorway his features smooth into a look of disinterest.

“Hello, you’re back late.” She wants to throw him through a wall.

“What are you doing.” It’s not really a question, they both know exactly what he’s doing, but she’s having a hard time stringing words together at all. His frustration comes back and he looks down at the heart in his hand again.

“I was trying to do a spell to see into the heart of another, but it didn’t work out.” He says a little more honestly than she was expecting. Dipper sets down the dagger on the rim of the bowl and the heart inside it before picking up a towel to wipe off his hands as he looks at the spellbook set close by. Mabel takes a breath but all she can smell now is the coppery tinge of blood in the air.

“I’m going to bed.” She snaps as she turns away from the grotesque scene.

“Don’t act so squeamish.” Dipper’s voice is colder now. “I know you’ve seen and done a lot worse.”

“Never to something that didn’t deserve it!” The fury in her voice shatters a lamp. Neither of them even flinch.

“Oh? Then how exactly did you make your amulet?” Ice shoots through her veins. “I recall the ritual requiring the mutilation of newly born fairies and the slaughtering of an innocent creature.” Her legs are heavy and her blood is pounding in her ears when she finally tears herself out of the doorway and makes her way upstairs. She’s saved lives by doing what she did then, she’d saved the entire planet by having her amulet. Mabel shuts her bedroom door behind her and presses the heels of her palms hard against her eyes. She doesn’t need to debate whether the ends justified the means. She’s known the answer for years. She’d known it the instant she’d brought her fabric sheers down across the doe’s neck and felt its blood spilling over her lap.

 

They don’t.

* * *

 

“Dipper I don’t understand why you want so much security on this event.” Wendy says and the small note of disappointment in her voice makes him guilty for a split second. Then he reminds himself his fears are completely justified this time and he doesn’t feel much better but the guilt does subside.

“Mabel, our Mabel, sent me a message the other day.” He tells the group without looking up from the seating arrangement that Candy had made for the magic show. “She’s fine,” Dipper leads with when everyone opens their mouths to ask. “But she said that the Gleefuls are the kind of casters who like to harvest human organs for their spells.”

“That’s not good.” Stanley says as he cleans his glasses with a frown.

“No shit, poindexter.”

“Shut it, Ford.” The younger twin glares at his brother for a moment as he continues. “Blood magic is addicting. If the Gleefuls are practicing it then they’re going to go through a withdrawal process if they don’t continue to do so. Did Mabel say how often she thinks they cast?”

“Often. They do shows five times a week and a couple of people usually go missing every month. That Gravity Falls has the highest frequency of missing persons in the country.”  
“Then she’s probably already hitting withdrawal. That might explain why she’s been so moody and irritable.”

“Or, you know, it’s because--”

“So help me if you say ‘it’s because she’s a woman’ I’m going to get my axe, Soos, I swear to God.” Wendy snaps and everyone flinches.

“Whoa dudette, I would never.” Soos says while frowning at the redhead. “I was gonna say it’s ‘cause she’s away from home.” Wendy gives the hispanic man a hard stare but after a moment she settles a little further into her chair and relaxes a bit. Stanley takes that as his cue to continue.

“I don’t think that handing her her preferred hunting ground is really a good idea, Dip.”

“Neither do I but she’s bored and maybe, if we can keep her from killing anyone, this show can be a good chance for her to blow off some steam.”

“So Saturday is just going to be one giant game of keep away.” Stan says with a sigh. “Fine, how about we have people return their ticket stubs at the end of the show to get like, a bumper sticker or something. Then we can make sure that everyone who came in leaves.”

“Sounds good, but how do we make sure no one gets lured back?”

“She’s not a siren, dude, she can’t put people under her thrall.” Soos gives a weak laugh but the mood around the table stays sullen. “Right? That’s not something she can do, is it?”

“Gideon had no trouble putting people under thrall. Whether it was actually the kind of Dracula-esque thrall you’re talking about...” Dipper shrugs. “I think it’s best for us to assume that she can get someone to obey her commands. I could try to put up a barrier around the Shack so that no one could come back once the show is over but I think she’d be able to break it down if she really wanted to.”

“But you would know if that happened, right?” Stan asks.

“Yeah.” He doesn’t worry the man by informing him that having a barrier destroyed feels like breaking a bone. “Since teleportation isn’t in the realm of magical reality we can assume she won’t be able to get away before we can get to her.”

* * *

 

It’s the screaming that wakes her before the world has even thought of dawn. Mabel sits bolt upright in her bed for a split second before she’d throwing the covers back and snatching up her amulet from the bedside table. She darts out of the room and down the halls, rooms a passing blur as she tries to find the source of the sound. She’s not all that surprised to stop outside of Gleeful’s room when she bounces off of a barrier.

“Dipper!” She snarls and digs her nails into the invisible wall surrounding the door. A frustrated growl bubbles past her lips as she encases her own hands in magic so she can pry open the shield. It’s slow going and her fingers begin to burn as her and Dipper’s magic clashes against one another’s but after a few long moments, measured only by the cries coming from inside the room, a wide crack finally splits the wards in two. Mabel doesn’t waste any time in forcing herself through and pushing open the door.

“Was that entirely necessary?” Gleeful asks from where he’s sitting at his desk. She can see Bill lying on the surface in a pool of his nightsky blood and hears the small whimpers that fill the room in place of his screams. “You could have just knocked.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing to him?!” Mabel shoulders her way past her brother’s doppleganger and moves to pick up the blue demon from the desk. A hand shoots out and grabs her tightly by the wrist. A jolt runs through both of their arms when they touch and each jerks away from the other. The power still surrounding their bodies is too volatile for contact.

“He is mine to do with whatever I want. I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be treated like this and while I’m around I won’t--”

“Mabel, it’s okay.” Bill says quietly. Her head whips around to look at the demon, still bleeding out on the desk. The right half of his body is gone, just gone, like Dipper had just reached out and ripped him in half. The wound looks like someone had shoved their fingers inside, tried to pry it open and dig the secrets of the universe out of his body. From the stains of blood reaching up Dipper’s forearm, Mabel suspects that is exactly what’s happened.

“Bill I’m pretty sure you’re dying, you don’t get a say in this.”

“No, I don’t think you understand exactly how things work here, Pines, and I’m tired of catering to your self-righteousness.” Dipper is too close now, his face sneering at her from inches away. Their magic clashes together and Mabel feels the heat of her own trying to burn away the thick gelatinous feel of Dipper’s power as it creeps up her spine. “We are blood magic practitioners. We kill for fun and we’re very good at it. We have a demon bound to us for eternity and he is just as weak and pathetic as they come.” He jabs a finger at the creature on his desk. “This is how things work around here and I’m not going to bother pretending otherwise anymore. You can keep thinking you haven’t gone dark but you are just as much a monster as my sister and I, so stop pretending to be the white knight.” The satisfaction that bursts through him when he watches Mabel flinch more than makes up for all the frustration she’s caused him over the past several days. “Bill,” the demon flinches when he’s addressed. “Answer honestly or I swear I will remove your eye for a month: Do you want to leave with Mabel for the night or would you rather stay here with me?” Mabel immediately moves to retrieve the demon and he stops her by grabbing hold of her shoulder and pulling her away from the desk. “I want his answer.”

“Master Dipper,” the demon says in a shaky voice as he presses one hand to his bleeding side. He waits for Bill to continue speaking. “I’ll stay.” He can’t look up at either of the humans and shame dims his glow. Mabel’s hands curl into fists at her sides and the air is thick with the power radiating out of her enraged form.

“You’re just as insane as our Bill was.” Mabel hisses as she turns and storms from the room, slamming the door behind her. Dipper pinches the bridge of his nose and settles back into the chair at his desk. Bill stays blessedly silent for a few minutes as he collects himself.

“Master Dipper?”

“What is it?” He sighs. The demon isn’t whimpering anymore and a quick glance at his form shows Bill’s wounds are already starting to close.

“Why are you antagonizing Mabel?”

“I don’t think that’s your business, Cipher.” The demon goes quiet at that but after a moment Dipper goes on. “I’m going to break her.” There’s a beat of silence.

“Forgive me, but that seems like something Mistress would do for fun.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.” He runs his fingers over the long break where he had torn the creature in half and collects a drop of blood still seeping sluggishly from the wound. Bill trembles under the touch and the last of his frustration drains out of him. He presses a little harder just to hear the demon whimper and he’s not disappointed. “I miss my sister.”

“Mabel can’t be Mistress.”

“No, but she’s close enough.” Dipper smears the blood between his forefinger and thumb, watching how it glistens for a moment, before he speaks again. “Will you be able to return to the Mindscape tonight?”

“No.”

“Fine. I’m going to sleep.” Neither acknowledge the fact Bill stays seated on the desk emitting a soft blue glow as Dipper finally nods off.

* * *

 

She arrives at the Mystery Shack well before a reasonable time in the morning. This fact doesn’t occur to her until she’s trying to turn the doorknob and it rattles stubbornly under her sweating fingers. The lock doesn’t budge and her pockets are empty of any keys that could help her open the door because this isn’t her home. Mabel lets go of the knob and steps back. She stares at the door and in the quiet of dawn with only the dew coated grass and a few whispering song birds to witness her, she feels lost.

It takes her a moment to really register what the feeling is because she’s never been like this before. She’s always had someone or something that gave her direction. Dipper was always there to give her guidance, or Stan, or Pacifica, or her parents, or even Bill, but none of them are here now. Her legs are shaking as she walks around to the back of the Shack to sit at one of the picnic tables. If no person could guide her she’s always had a goal to inspire her actions. The danger in Gravity Falls made her try to get stronger and learn how to fight. The need to stay in shape while in California made her join the track team. The need to express herself made her knit and shop and cover everything she owned in glitter. But here she’s lost. Here there aren’t friends or family to drive her. Here there isn’t anyone to protect because she can’t stop Dipper Gleeful and she can’t save this Gravity Falls. The worn wooden bench is slightly damp and cold in the early morning sunlight but she sits down anyway.

She can’t stop Dipper Gleeful or his sister. She can’t save Bill because he doesn’t want her to. She can’t get home, she can’t see her friends, and god, she can’t even control herself. What the hell kind of business does she have trying to control another caster anyway? It’s probably against some kind of witchy rule that she and Dipper had never been taught. Mabel swears she can taste iron on her tongue. It’s not like she and Dipper haven’t used some blood magic themselves. It’s not like she isn’t a monster too--  
“Mabel?” The back door of the Shack creeks open and she looks up. “What are you doing here so early?” Gideon takes a few steps outside and Mabel sees Pacifica at his heels, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“I just-- What happened to you?” She stiffens when she spots the way both of the mystery hunters are limping and the bandages that are adorning their faces. Gideon and Pacifica share a look that seems to speak volumes before Pacifica shrugs one shoulder and he turns back to face Mabel.

“We’ve been pushing it with the Gleefuls lately. It’s probably a good thing that Mabel isn’t here. She would have done a lot worse than a few cuts and bruises and some minor property damage.” Pacifica says before she sits down beside the other girl.

“Dipper did this?” Of course she’s not surprised but she is furious.

“He paid us a little visit. Trust me, this is fine.” Gideon adds as he sits down on the opposite side of the table.

“This isn’t fine. He assaulted you, why don’t you do something about it? Call up the police, or something!” She doesn’t have the right to, not in this universe, but she gently cups Pacifica’s chin and peels up the corner of one of the band-aids to get a look at the cut underneath. To her credit Pacifica doesn’t seem all that put off by the sudden action and just lets Mabel inspect her wounds. The cut isn’t too deep and it’s already scabbed over but the edges are still red and irritated.

“We can’t.”

“Why not? Blubs and Durland would probably jump at the chance to bring the Gleefuls in for something.” Pacifica gently pulls away from her hands and looks out at the forest with a frown.

“We can’t.”

“Why not? If you’re worried about how he’ll react, I can protect you. I can make sure he doesn’t lay a hand on you.”

“Mabel, we just can’t do that.” Gideon mutters as he pulls off his hat and tugs at his hair.

“Why not?” Her desperation turns to anger as she looks back and forth between the other two. “How can you just sit there and not do anything about this when you know it’s going to happen again?”

“Look, this isn’t that bad.” He grunts and shoves his hat back onto his head. Neither he nor Pacifica will meet her eyes. “The Gleefuls have gotten better over the years. We don’t want, one day they might, it’s--” he bites the inside of his cheek and Mabel goes very still. They sit in absolute silence for a few long minutes.

“Heh,” The sound that escapes her throat is a little strangled but it clears the way for the rest of her hysterical laughter. She laughs and laughs until her ribs hurt and her eyes are filled with tears and her entire body is shaking and then she laughs some more. Her lungs are burning when she finally settles down enough to speak. “You care about them. You really care about them no matter how they’ve treated you, no matter how many people they’ve killed. You’re still hoping that someday they’ll get better. That’s sick.” So is she. For one sharp moment she wants to tell them that they’re delusional, or that it’s impossible for people to change, but she remembers the twelve year old who wore skirts and nacho earrings who tried to win over everyone with a smile. Maybe just because she’s grown worse over the years doesn’t mean that others can’t get better. “You’re too good for them.” And she means it. They’re too good for her too. Her legs are weaker than they were when they’d lead her here as the sun rose.

“Mabel,” Gideon reaches out and catches her hand. His blue eyes are wide and earnest and scared. Good, he should be scared of her. She’s a fucking monster. “What happened to you?” Demons. She wants to say. Monsters, life, Gravity Falls, the apocalypse, but none of those things seem like anything more than pitiful excuses. She stares at his face, the same face she still sees in her nightmares that sometimes isn’t attached to his body.

“I gave up idealism for practicality.” Mabel bites her cheek hard enough that when she tastes blood again, this time she knows it’s real. “Whatever happens, don’t make that mistake.” These are good people. Acid burns at the back of her throat. They’ve got the same big hearts that she and her brother had until their caring for others lead them astray. “Don’t compromise your morals to save other people.” She wishes that someone had given her that advise three years ago.

* * *

 

When Saturday night finally rolls around Team Mystery has gone over the schedule for the night so many times Dipper could probably recite it in his sleep. The magic show is going to be held out back starting at seven-thirty. Wendy will be working the ticket booth while Soos meticulously counts each person who enters. Once ticket sales are finished he’ll take to keeping an eye on the crowd. Grunkle Stan will be keeping an eye on Mabel from backstage and Grandpa Lee will be working the lights and sound. Dipper is in charge of casting the barrier as soon as the show has ended and every last patron has left the Shack and then getting Mabel Gleeful interested in the after party which Pacifica, Candy, and Grenda are in charge of planning.

And surprisingly, the plan actually seems to be going pretty well. Wendy and Soos report a little over a hundred people turn out to see the show. It’s a pretty decent number considering that there wasn’t very much advertising and since the show was planned on very short notice. Though that had mostly been a lie. The advertising had been shirked because they hadn’t wanted more potential victims to turn up to the show, but Gravity Falls is a small town and word apparently travels fast. Still, things are going well so far.

“Dipper.” He jumps about a mile when Mabel calls his name.

“Jesus!” He presses his hand to his rapidly pounding heart but quickly drops it when he feels the outline of his scar press against his palm. “I thought you were out back with Stan.”

“I just came back in to grab my powder.” She holds up a fluffy looking makeup brush and a small plastic container filled with a white powder. “Are you going to come out and watch the show?”

“Yeah, of course I am.” Of course he is. No matter how uncomfortable he is around this Mabel, though he’s not sure if the incestuous relationship she has with her brother or the fact she’s a sadistic murder makes him more uncomfortable, he has to attend this show. “Nice getup.” He says with a forced smile. She looks like a classic magician in her black leotard and blue tights with the tuxedo jacket wrapped around her shoulders.

“It’s the best I could do on short notice.” She shrugs and starts to head down the hall towards the back door. When he doesn’t immediately follow her she turns back and raises one delicate eyebrow expectantly. Dipper grits his teeth to hide his nervousness as he follows after her. She doesn’t try for anymore smalltalk as they head outside and when she sees the crowd that’s gathered she beams. It’s the most genuine smile that he’s see on her face since she’d arrived and he can’t even be pleased about it when he knows she could just be happy about the prospect of eviscerating someone. “Thank you.” She reaches out and squeezes his hand briefly and then even more quickly presses a kiss to the corner of his lips. He goes very stiff but before he can say anything or move away she’s already gone and heading towards the stage. His heart thuds in his chest and he wishes, not for the first time, that his own sister was back at his side.

* * *

 

“And for my final trick, ladies and gentlemen, I will take one lucky audience member and make them disappear!” Dipper startles out of his trance. Mabel Gleeful is fantastic at what she does, so good in fact, that he’d been completely sucked into the show. But the thought of her making anyone disappear jolts him back into action. He reaches towards his headset and flips on the receiver. It buzzes to life as the crowd is whooping and raising their arms frantically to be chosen.

“Mabel you can’t use an audience member.” He hisses into the mic and onstage his not-sister’s face falls a little. She keeps smiling at the crowd but her eyes are questioning. “We don’t have the insurance to cover anything that could go wrong, you’re going to have to use one of the gang.” Because it’s a lot less likely she’ll spirit one of them away to get their hearts ripped out or whatever it is wacky blood magic practitioners do these days.

“Now, now, it’s nice to see such an enthusiastic crowd, but alas the choice is not mine to make.” She tugs a handkerchief from her pocket and then tucks it into her palm before pulling out a blue rose. Her audience gasps and cheers and Dipper wonders how much of this is real and how much is the same mind control Gideon used to work the crowds. “How about we let the magic do the talking?” She tosses the rose towards the audience but halfway through the air it vanishes. “Now tell me, who has the rose?” It’s a great relief that the flower hasn’t landed anywhere on his person but it’s a short-lived relief.

“I do.” Wendy’s voice sounds only marginally as confident as usual. She sends a nervous glance at him before she starts to make her way up to the stage.

“Wonderful, Wendy Corduroy, please come and stand beside me. Give her a hand ladies and gentlemen!” Dipper’s eardrums vibrate with the intensity of the cheers. Mabel moves to stand in front of Wendy but he can’t see what she’s doing. “Now just relax for me.” The redhead laughs nervously but with a wave of Mabel’s hand she goes very still.  
The sorceress takes a step to the side so the crowd can see Wendy as Mabel continues to move her hands like she’s a puppeteer. She moves her hand back and Wendy’s spine bows backwards so far that she looks like a ragdoll. Dipper wants desperately to do something. To run on stage and stop whatever is happening but he knows better. He knows Mabel won’t try to anything with a crowd of people staring at her. She lifts her hand and everyone gasps as the older girl is lifted a few feet off the ground. She reaches into her jacket again and pulls out a piece of silk far too large to have fit into her pockets. It billows in the gentle evening breeze and she smiles up at Wendy.

“Please take hold of this.” And Wendy does with a glazed look in her eyes. Mabel begins to gently rotate her hand in the air and the silk shroud begins to wrap itself around her puppet. Wendy spins faster and faster until all anyone can see is the silk swirling in the air and then Mabel throws her hands out to her side and the silk splits in two and flies off the edges of the stage and erupts in a wave of doves. And Wendy is gone. The applause of the crowd shakes the very foundations of the Shack as Mabel beams and bows. He doesn’t even have a chance to panic over where Wendy has gone before he’s being knocked over.

“Ugh.” She grunts as she crashes into him. “That was… not fun. Sorry.” She apologizes as she pushes herself back to her feet and helps him get back up as well. Dipper wraps his arms around her and squeezes her tightly.

“Oh thank god. Are you alright?”

“I’m okay. It wasn’t fun, but she didn’t do anything shady.” Wendy pats his shoulder and then presses a hand against her forehead. “I’m still dizzy though. But it’s better than dead so, there’s that.” Dipper lets go of her and turns his attention back to the stage as Mabel takes her final bow and dismisses the crowd for the night. “Let’s get to it, dude. We’ve gotta make sure everyone leaves safe.”

“Yeah, come on.”

It doesn’t take all that long to get people to start heading out. Dipper meticulously counts each person as they exit the makeshift gate single file to make sure there aren’t any stragglers. Everything feels like it’s going according to plan as they work on making sure his sister doesn’t get slapped with a murder charge when she finally does come home.

Two people are missing when he thinks the last of the crowd has trickled out.

“We’ve got two people who still haven’t left yet.” He says into his mic. “Stan--”

“Still on her.” His Grunkle replies. “She’s alone.”

“Found one of them. They were using the bathroom.” Soos adds.

“Find the second one.”

“Got him.” Wendy adds. “Did Robbie already leave?” Dipper frowns.

“I didn’t see him.”

“I don’t remember seeing him when we were selling tickets either.” Soos adds.

“He came in to pick up Tambry at the end of the show. I got pulled on-stage before I could say anything.” An edge of panic is laced through her voice.

“Stan,--”

“She slipped out.” His grunkle curses violently.

“Find her, now.” Stanley snarls.

The next few minutes are a desperate scramble to locate either Mabel or Robbie. They scour the Shack grounds and Dipper immediately takes off into the forest. There’s only a thin fingernail slit of moon hanging in the sky tonight, and the dim light dyes the forest black and white. He’s not careful as he runs through the underbrush and twigs snap loudly with every step as he throws his own weak magical ability out into the night trying to find Mabel Gleeful. Her power is like a beacon when he finally finds it and he stumbles under the malicious weight that presses into his bones. He gags on the taste of blood that boils up in the back of his throat and the scent of burning hair that sears his nostrils, but he keeps running towards her.

“She’s in the forest!” He calls into his mic before he spots her.

She’s standing with Robbie in a very tight clearing. His childhood tormentor is staring out at the forest with glazed eyes and makes no movement or sounds as Mabel presses her nail against his cheek hard enough to break his skin. The blood that trickles out of the cut looks black in the moonlight.

“Get away from him Mabel!” He shouts but she makes no movements when he interrupts her.

“I’m busy, Dipper. We can play together after I’m finished.” She tugs a pin loose from her hair and he ses how lethal that edge looks. He doesn’t think twice before he’s tackling her to the forest floor. She swipes at him with the pin and it catches him across the shoulder and he hisses. “Get off of me!”

“What is wrong with you?” He snarls. “ Did you really think that we were just going to let you go around killing people? You’re fucking insane!” They wrestle to get a good hold of the pin but he’s always been weaker than his sister and he doesn’t have much in the way of magic for help. Her legs lock around his waist and she throws all of her weight into him until she’s forced his back against the forest floor and she’s practically sitting on his chest. Her eyes blaze bright blue and the snarl on her face reminds him of the one that he’d seen on his own sister’s features when she had ripped out Bill’s tongue.

“Why don’t you understand!?” She screams back at him. The wild desperation in her voice doesn’t make him feel any safer and he wonders if she’ll slit his throat.  
“Robbie!” Wendy, Soos, and the Stans tear into view. She and Soos immediately rush over to help her ex-boyfriend. The commotion seems to have helped to snap him out of whatever trance Mabel had put him in and he presses a hand to his forehead and stumbles a little.

“What? Ow” He moves his hand to touch the trickle of blood running down his cheek. “What the hell? Wendy, what happened?” She looks at a loss for a moment before she grabs Robbie by the arm and gestures for Soos to take hold of his other and they start to lead him away.

“It’s nothing. You got caught up in the mass hypnosis by accident. You’ll be fine.” Her voice shakes a little.

“No!” Mabel tries to get up so Dipper locks his hands around her wrists as tightly as he can. She sneers at him and tries to pull her hands free and when he doesn’t release him she ruthlessly knees him in the gut. His breath whooshes out of him but he doesn’t loosen his grip.

“Go with the others.” He orders his the original Mystery Twins who are eyeing them with trepidation as they look for a way to help without being stabbed with the pin Mabel is still clutching like a lifeline. They hesitate. “GO!” It doesn’t take them long after that and Dipper keeps holding onto Mabel until he’s put a bubble around the clearing so she can’t follow. He releases her arms and shoves at her shoulders. She lets herself be pushed off of him and kneels in the dirt. He can’t tell if she’s furious with him or if she’s about to cry. “We tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, we tried to treat you like a human being, but you’re a monster.” Saying those words make his entire chest seize with guilt. He promised Mabel he’d never--But this isn’t his Mabel. This girl would kill in cold blood for nothing but the pure enjoyment of it. This Mabel is a monster.

“You’re pathetic.” She says and there’s a manic smile stretching her lips even as her eyes brim with tears. “Nothing like my brother at all. You’re too soft.” He almost wants to laugh at her. Soft? Like that’s an insult. Like he and Mabel wouldn’t give anything to have stayed the kids who ate popsicles on the roof and watched Ducktective while sitting on top of a dinosaur skull during the summer.

“I don’t care what you and your brother do in your own universe.” It’s a lie. But he can’t be responsible for whatever havoc they cause in a world that isn’t even his. “ But here, you will not do anything that could put my sister at risk. You don’t lay a hand on anyone or so help me, I don’t care the risk, I will bring my sister back here and let you fend for yourself.” Mabel stares at him for a few long moments and Dipper can’t remember being this exhausted since the first night in the bunker during the apocalypse. “Do we understand each other?”

“I don’t understand you.” He grits his teeth and she gives him a smile so vicious it burns more than the cut trickling blood down his arm. “But I understand your terms.”

“Fine. If you’re having withdrawls then we’ll figure something out for that. But if you lay a hand on anyone…” He doesn’t really want to see any version of his sister killed. “Just don’t do it.” Dipper pushes himself back to his feet and lowers the bubble. After a moment he hears Mabel pick herself up and follow him back towards the Shack.

“Did you enjoy the show?” She asks calmly, as if they’ve just been for a pleasant evening stroll.

“Up until the finale it was pretty impressive.”

* * *

 

“Where is he?” Mabel growls at Bill as she enters the manor.

“M-Mabel, I don’t think you should--”

“Where. Is. He?” She snarls at the broken demon. He’s still shattered and she’s disgusted with him more than his injuries at the moment. He’s just as bad as Pacifica and Gideon. How can he of all people not see a monster when they’re right in front of him?

“Master Dipper is in the basement, but Mabel,” He whimpers desperately. “You don’t want to do this. Please Mabel, you won’t feel any better!”

“Be quiet, Cipher.” Her feet stomp across the polished floors as she heads for the basement. This is the first time she’s tried to go downstairs but she finds the secret entrance easily as she follows the pulse of corpse magic seeping up through the floorboards.

“You don’t have to punish yours--”

“Be quiet! What makes you think I want to hear anything you have to say?” Her throat is raw and her neck is hot. “What makes you think you’re anything but a painful reminder to me that a person I loved betrayed my family and ruined my life?” Bill flinches back hard enough that she thinks for a moment she’s lashed out at him with her magic. He trembles in the air and his eye is wet with tears.

“Mistress,” he catches himself and she sucks in a startled breath. “No, Mabel, I didn’t mean--”

“Get out of my sight.” She doesn’t pause a moment longer before she takes off down the stairs, into stuffy air that smells like decay.

Dipper isn’t waiting for her, but he doesn’t seem surprised that she’s found him. He doesn’t pause a for a moment in what he’s doing. Mabel stares at the corpse on the table and her head spins but there’s nothing she can do for this person. The separated ribs and liver in Dipper’s hand tells her that she’s come back far too late. He sets the liver in a tray beside the table and pulls off his thick red-stained gloves. The rubber apron keeps him from getting a drop of blood on his pressed white shirt.

“Oh good you’re back. I don’t suppose you’d like to finish the dissection, would you? I’m not really as fond of this part as my sister dearest.”

“Fuck you.” Dipper takes off his apron and throws it across one of the old wooden benches.

“Fine. You want to make yourself feel better? Go ahead, chew me out, call me a monster, I don’t really care.” He leans up against the desk pushed off to the side of the room. Mabel’s vision goes red.

“You want to see a monster?” She lunges at him before she realizes that she was thinking of moving. Dipper’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second but he doesn’t have a chance to move out of the way before one of her hands is knotted at the collar of his shirt and she’s swinging a fist towards his sadistic little face. Her knuckles connect hard with his cheekbone but he takes the punch better than she thinks her brother could. The room is spinning and as much as she fucking hates it, Bill was right. She doesn’t feel better. Her insides twists and writhe like there are worms gnawing away at her rotting guts. She hits him again. Dipper catches her wrists this time and pushes her back. He’s sneering at her and his teeth are red. His cheek is already starting to swell.

She doesn’t attack him like his sister does when she throws a temper tantrum. His sister claws and bites and jabs her heels into the small of his back so that he’ll have bruises for weeks. It’s actually very refreshing. But, he barely avoids adding a black-eye to his list of bruises, he doesn’t really have the energy to indulge her when he’s got a peculiar demon and a missing sister to deal with.

“Why exactly are you so furious? Do you even know?” He feels his own temper spike. This self-righteous little brat doesn’t have the right to pretend to be so much greater than him or his sister. “You’re just as corrupted as we are, even if you want to pretend otherwise. Don’t take your self-hatred out on me!” He snaps and just like that the fight is draining from her eyes. Her shoulders slump and her fists tremble at her sides. Dipper licks the blood from his teeth and storms past her. “Finish up down here, or don’t. I don’t really care. But if you try to attack me again then I’ll make sure that when the time comes, all Bill delivers to your family is a corpse.”

“You don’t scare me.” He looks at her for a long moment. Her eyes spark like flint but she doesn’t come at him again.

“No, I don’t think monsters are easily scared by each other.” It’s worth the pain in his face to see her walls crumble at that one insignificant word. He stalks up the stairs and leaves the woman in the semi-darkness of the basement. Honestly, if she’s still upset being called a monster after spending eight years in Gravity Falls then she needs to reconsider what exactly she’s doing here.

* * *

 

Dipper makes himself breakfast after he leaves the basement. Sets a skillet on the stove to heat up as he presses a bag of frozen peas against his cheek and grumbles to himself. Bill’s there. Of course he is. The damn demon is actually starting to get on his nerves with how casually he’s been lingering in the house.

“Master?”

“What?” He snarls without looking at the creature. He’s sure Bill flinches and the thought doesn’t give him an ounce of satisfaction. Dipper picks up the box of pancake mix and tears open the cardboard. He dumps in the powder and the liquid into a bowl and mixes it carelessly.

“I can heal your injuries, if you want…”

“If I wanted you to touch me I would have already given you the order!” In his frustration, as he tries to tip some of the batter into the skillet, he spills it across the stove. “Damn it!” He scrambles to turn off the burner to prevent the mess from cooking onto the stove before he continues. “It seems like lately everyone is forgetting their place in this town. First the Mystery Dorks, now you? Do I actually need to press a power drill into your head for you to understand exactly what your place is in this world?” He gives up on the pancakes and finally turns to face Bill. “You don’t speak unless I give you an order,” he stalks towards the table where Bill is sitting, unable to float away in his current state. “You don’t show yourself unless I tell you to. You don’t talk to anyone else unless I give you permission! You. Are. Mine.” The beat of silence that follows his declaration is just long enough for him to cool down enough to be put off by his own outburst and to really see the way that the demon is staring up at him.

Bill’s never been one for prolonged eye contact but he’s wide-eyed and focused as he looks up at Dipper now. His glow fluctuates erratically from the usual way it dims when he’s nervous or ashamed, but it flares up brightly every now and then as he trembles delicately. Dipper doesn’t even know what his own expression is doing, but after a moment Bill looks down at the table between them and his color settles on the darker nervous blue. They both take a breath, well Bill doesn’t take a breath, but the sentiment still feels like it’s there.

“Yes, Master.”

“I don’t know what to do with her.” It’s too open, too honest, too exposing. He would have rather stripped off his own flesh than admit that he’s unsure of himself, and yet here he is. Bill looks back up at him again.

“Master--”

“No.” He pinches the bridge of his nose if only to have an excuse to look away first. “I don’t want your input, Bill.”

“...Yes, Master.”

“Go home. Don’t return until you’re called for.” He can tell the demon has wilted even further without even needing to look at him. “Go heal.”

“Yes, Master.” His pathetic tone offers Dipper no satisfaction.

“Go.” And he’s alone in the kitchen at last.

Dipper stays at the table for a long time, his face throbbing, and his mind turning in rusty loops. He’s always had a plan on how to deal with his sister, on how to deal with anything really. He hasn’t felt this thrown off since their parents’ accident. But that had been a massive upset to his world, to his entire way of seeing reality. Having his sister in an alternate universe? After all of the other things they had done since living in Gravity Falls? That should really be small potatoes. But he doesn’t know how to handle Mabel anymore, not when their fighting doesn’t lead to fucking, or when their emotional instability doesn’t lead to one of them slipping into the other’s bed at three am just to be comforted by the arms of another around their body. He doesn’t think that he’ll be able to push Mabel Pines into bloodlust, just further and further into her self-loathing. A lot of him thinks that could really be good enough. A big part of him that guides his hands and words when he’s doing spellcraft, just wants her to suffer for not being his sister. But a tiny part of him, the little shadowy fracture that lingers in the back of his mind, the same little chunk that gets warm when he and Bill make a breakthrough in their research, doesn’t want any version of his sister to suffer at his hands. That part is too weak after years of bloodshed to do much more than just cause him minor frustration.  
Dipper glances over at the clock and wonders how exactly he’d gotten caught up in his thoughts for so long. It’s well past breakfast time now, probably late enough that lunch would probably be frowned at too. And he still hasn’t heard a peep from Mabel. He knows he’s been deep in thought, but there’s no way he wouldn’t have heard her come up from the basement. He picks himself up from the table and glances at the mess that’s splattered all over the stovetop and makes the deliberate decision to leave it for later. His sister would have been endlessly proud of him. Then he heads back down into the basement.

* * *

 

He was right, of course, about knowing he would have heard her if she’d left. Because when he gets back downstairs he sees that she’s sitting on the floor by his desk staring at the corpse on the operating table. Some of his notes are piled on the floor beside her and he wonders if she’s been going through his things the entire time she was down here and how much reorganizing he’s going to have to do after she leaves.

“I decapitated a gnome when I was seventeen.” Her voice is hollow and she doesn’t even really look at him as she speaks. He walks over and sits down beside her. He tries to give her some space but she inches a little closer. Their shoulders press together as they rest their backs against the concrete walls. “I’ve killed a lot of Gremloblins too. I guess I never thought they were important, but I’m reconsidering.” He almost wants to ask her why she’s forcing him to take a trip down memory lane with her, but he lets her talk. Maybe she’ll give him something else to use against her. “I made my amulet when I was eighteen. Our Bill caught me out in the forest that night and gave me the lithium quartz. He used to call me Falling Star when I was… when I was acting darker than I usually did.”

“What did he call you when you were being yourself?”

“‘Shooting Star’. He used to call Dipper ‘Pine Tree’.” She says quietly. “Your Bill has nicknames for you too, you know.” He didn’t know. The knowledge is heavy in his gut and he doesn’t know why.

“Less than flattering ones I’m sure.”

“No, just ‘Evergreen’ and ‘Lost Star’. He cares way too much about you two.” Nothing he could say seems adequate enough to respond. So he just waits for her to keep talking again. “I, I did a lot of other things after I got more powerful. I fought tooth and nail to keep my family safe, but when Bill turned on us, I really lost my head.” And now she presses her palms tightly against her eyes and hunches in on herself. “I threatened Grunkle Stan, I tried to kill Gideon and only failed because Bill got to him first, and when we fought Bill, when I faced him head-to-head--” She takes a breath. “I ripped him into pieces. I can still feel the way his intestines stretched and gave when I tore them out of his gut, and how his teeth scraped against the back of my hand when I shoved it into his mouth and ripped out his tongue.” She gives a self-deprecating laugh. “And when I asked my brother if he thought I was a monster he said no.”

“And you both knew he was lying.” He feels her flinch where their shoulders are touching.

“He doesn’t think so. He thinks that because I did all of this to protect my family, that that makes it okay.”

“But you are a monster.” And honestly he can feel his frustration from earlier bubbling back up in him. They’ve been over this. She knows it, he knows it, and she’s going to accept it if it’s the last thing he does.

“Yeah, well as long as he doesn’t believe it that doesn’t matter.”

“And has that been working?”

“I almost shoved my hand into his mouth,” she indicates the corpse on the table with a slight nod. “I thought, for a split second, that if I could feel a tongue in my hand again it would stop the phantom itch.” He inspects her hands but they’re clean of blood. This girl is so irreparably broken.

“Why didn’t you do it then?”

“Because I realized it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be hot and it wouldn’t hurt…” She’s a little green but she finally turns to look at him. “And I wouldn’t feel as good about it now as I did then.” Mabel doesn’t even pause for breath before she speaks again. “How long have you and your sister been sleeping together?” This conversation has already been the strangest one that he’s had with Mabel Pines, but this question completely derails him. He… hadn’t thought she knew about that….

“A long time.” Since they were fifteen. Since their parents died and they had found the most unhealthy coping mechanisms that they could practice and threw themselves into them with gusto.

“Why are you okay with that?”

“She’s my sister.” That’s exactly why it should bother him. This Mabel’s expression says that clearly enough, but that’s what brought them together. They meant everything to one another for all their lives. More than their parents, more than Stanford, or Gravity Falls, or magic. “We’re the only ones who understand each other.” He’s not sure how true the statement is anymore and scowls at nothing in particular.

“You get to be monsters together.” Mabel bites out. He wants to ask her if she’s jealous. If whoever gave her that ring is just another person she has to hide her rage and bloodlust from, but he feels like he already knows the answer. Dipper stares at her for a long moment and she stares right back, her mouth set into a tight line. She doesn’t quite understand--she doesn’t want to understand--but she recognizes that this is what her life could have easily turned into. She still hates him. She still doesn’t want her family to know she’s a monster. But he thinks she’s finally accepted that fact for herself. That’s why they’re having this conversation, that's why she letting him touch her, asking him these questions. He’s looking at someone who’s finally given up on pretending to be alright.

  
She’s still not his sister.

But Dipper kisses her as brutally as he would have kissed his Mabel. She curls her nails into his bruised cheek, which hurts enough to make him hiss and move away. But she wasn’t trying to get him to back off and she catches his jaw and pulls his mouth back towards hers. She wraps an arm around his neck and bites down hard on his lip until he finally opens up and then she uses her other hand to grab his amulet and tie to drag him closer until they’re at a better angle. She doesn’t have the same long hair that he’s used to pulling at but he makes due because the curves of her body are the same as they press together. There’s nothing gentle or fluid in the way they grope at each other. He knows all the places to stroke and press to make her breath shiver and her back arch away from the wall. She seems to just want to dig her nails into as many paces as she can reach.

  
They don’t strip down, but soon her sweater is pushed up underneath her arms to expose her breasts and she’s tugged his belt loose. He leaves marks across her collarbone and sternum as she fumbles with one hand with the button on her shorts while the other grips at the back of his neck and scrapes bloody crescents into his skin. He shoves away the hand at her waist and makes quick work of her button and zipper, wanting nothing more to be able to stroke over her without the fabric in the way. She pulls his face back to hers when he bites a bruise unto the flesh of her breast that isn’t being cupped by her bra. Their kisses make his bruised cheek throb and when this Mabel bites open his lip the thorn of want that spikes through him is enough to make him dizzy. He almost misses her quiet, panted question as she presses it against his bleeding lips.

“Condoms?” He hardly fumbles as he reaches towards the lower drawers on his desk beside them. He wishes there wasn’t a corpse on the operating table so he could lay Mabel out on top of it. His cock twitches at the thought as he pushes her underwear aside so he can roll his fingers over her clit and hear that breathy gasp he loves so much. Instead she lets out a whispered curse. She’s not his sister. Blood dribbles down his chin and stains her skin.

But she’s close enough.

* * *

 

Things at the Shack don’t get any less tense after the magic show. But, to Dipper’s surprise, they don’t get any more tense either. Now that everything--almost everything, the memory of Mabel’s lips on his, whispers-- with Mabel Gleeful is out in the open she’s actually loosened up a little. She talks a little more. She’s a little more willing to talk about the things that happen in her reality. Dipper often wishes she wouldn’t share interesting little tidbits like how many people she thinks she’s killed or how many baths it takes for her to get the smell of burning remains out of her hair. But she’s not doing any active damage, nor is she trying to sneak away to kill anyone, so he counts that as a win.

Mabel on the other hand is ready to tug her own teeth loose from her gums and press them into her eyes until they crack through the orbital bone. It would relieve the boredom for a while and she wouldn’t have to stare at her brother anymore. Or her not-brother who doesn’t love her. Whatever. Teeth in eyes would make it better. Other people’s teeth in other people’s eyes would be even better, but she doesn’t doubt that this Dipper won’t indulge her habits. He doesn’t treat her with the same softness and hesitance that he had when she had first arrived, which is almost an improvement. But she could do without the look of disgust that he gets every time he glances in her direction. She shouldn’t subject herself to him for extended periods of time, but she does it anyway. That’s why she’s laying across the couch in the living room while he’s pouring over his books at the table. That’s why she’s around when Candy Chiu walks into the living room.

“Hello Dipper, hello Mabel Gleeful.” She greets evenly. Mabel pretends to be disinterested in the girl’s appearance but she can’t help but remember the time that she and Dipper had stripped away the girl’s flesh so they could use her bones for a spell.

“Hey Candy,” Dipper smiles at her a little tiredly. “What’s up?”

“There have been many Gremloblins migrating through the forest again.” His face falls to utter exhaustion and he groans and rubs his palm over his face.

“What are they running from this time?”

“By all appearances, from the site of the recent battle with the wolves.” Her tone goes a little cold at the end there and Mabel raises a brow. But Dipper just sighs.

“I told you, as soon as we’re done with our current crisis, I’ll introduce you to them.” He gestures flippantly with one hand. “And then you can try to reenact the werewolf romance novels of your youth.”

“You had better.”

“Anyway, the Gremloblins aren’t a problem. They just need to be herded back into the forest.” He glances at his watch. “There’s still plenty of daylight, we can get hmm, Wendy and Grenda and head over to take care of it.”

“I brought my blackjack.”

“Okay.”

“Can I come?” When Dipper looks at her this time he’s too surprised for disgust to reach his eyes.

“What?”

She’d only known Mabel Pines for a few short minutes, but she thinks that she’s fairly successful in mimicking her tone and inflection as she speaks. No need to remind Dipper how foreign she is just with her usual clipped tone.

“Can I come mystery hunting? Gremloblins in crowds can be dangerous and it wouldn’t hurt for you to have a little more magic on your side.” His expression shifts from surprise to suspicious incredulity. “And I’m bored.” They stare at each other but she keeps her face impassive. She’s behaved since the magic show, she’s earned an hour out fighting monsters at the least. No, what she really deserves is to sink her arms elbow deep into someone’s chest and then curl up in her brother’s bed with his face pressed between her thighs, but that’s also not going to happen any time soon so she’ll take whatever she can get out of this Dipper. At the very least this will keep her from pulling out her teeth. Dipper probably wants to say no, probably knows that it’s in his best interest to say no, but he probably also knows that saying no will drain her and leave her miserable. Because even if he’s not her Dipper, and even if they don’t mean nearly as much to each other as she and her brother do to one another, she still means something to him. She still reminds him enough of his sister for her feelings to matter to him.

So he says yes.

* * *

 

They take two cars. Not because they actually need to take two cars, but because Dipper doesn’t want Mabel around Candy or Grenda for too long. Wendy also might have a hypodermic needle filled with a sedative in her pocket, but that’s neither here nor there. If the way Mabel’s magic is batting at his senses is an indicator, then the needle was probably a good idea. As they drive he catches Wendy glancing at him worriedly out of the corner of his eye as his breathing is turns shallow and strained. He can’t help it. The entire car is saturated with the scent of blood and burning flesh and she can’t feel it coating the inside of her throat and clogging his nostrils. He’s completely dizzy with it, nauseous more like it, and he wonders how he’s never felt his sister’s magic like this before. Her excess energy usually manifests itself in sparks that jump over her skin, not this.

“Dude,” Wendy catches his attention and he realizes immediately that Grenda and Candy have flipped on their turn signal and are heading off towards one of the side roads. He follows them and after a few more minutes they come to a stop in a dirt parking lot lined with trees. Dipper takes a breath and removes his key from the ignition. Gremloblins aren’t really causes for concern anymore but he can’t shake the worry about how this Mabel will handle herself against them.

“Okay, Candy, lead the way.” He says and the group follows the thin woman into the forest. They can already hear the commotion from here. Mabel falls in step beside him and he regrets bringing her.

He doesn’t regret it nearly as much when a tree comes flying at their little group and Mabel incinerates it with a flick of her wrist. He’s so startled that he almost misses the soft sigh she releases when the cloud of soft ash dusts over them. A loud roar from past their line of vision echos through the trees at them and as a group they ready for the oncoming attack.

“Candy, Wendy, get up into the trees, and wait for an opening before attacking from above. Grenda, Mabel, and I will distract them from down here.”

“No need for all that.” This time Dipper knows that he’s not the only one who smells it. Grenda turns green and gags while Candy and Wendy both go pale and his entire world spins. The sun might be shining down on them, a beautiful summer’s day in the forest, but Dipper feels like he’s standing up to his thighs in a pile of decaying corpses. He can almost feel the press of the bloated waxy flesh of the dead and the hard scrape of blood crusted clothes against his skin. Grenda vomits. Mabel stalks forward, her eyes glowing as brightly as her amulet, and her magic lashing out around her. The grass under her feet withers and decades old pines blacken and die. She doesn’t even seem to notice.  
Her eyes are only for the three monsters that have just barreled through the trees. The closest one charges her and she doesn’t flinch. She stares at the creature with a look of such unbridled joy that he imagines that’s what his sister will look like on her wedding day. And then she reaches out and the Gremloblin’s heart leaps out of it’s chest with the crack of bones and a spray of blood. That’s all the motive the other two need to turn tail and head back into the forest and that should be the end of it but,

“Where are you going? I’m not finished yet.” And she pursues them. He can’t even think of wading through the wall of invisible flesh before he hears more cracking bone and the thick wet tear of flesh being torn away. The Gremloblins scream, high and pained, and then go very quiet.

But the tearing sounds remain.

* * *

 

She doesn’t stay in the basement for long after they’ve finished. Her head is swimming and the image of the corpse on the table is burned into her mind. She couldn’t stop looking at it, not even while he was buried inside her. Dipper doesn’t stop her from leaving, just buckles his belt and goes about picking up the papers that she’d taken off his desk.

Mabel makes it all the way upstairs and into the guestroom before her nausea makes her knees go weak. She tries to get to the toilet before she’s gagging up the contents of her stomach, but the bile mostly misses the bowl and splashes loudly against the floor. She doesn’t have the energy to pay that much attention and just barely rights her position so the next wave of vomit actually does end up in the toilet. Her throat is on fire by the time she’s finished and her hair is just long enough to be stuck to her face by strings of sick and tears. Mabel doesn’t know when she started crying.

Her brother. She just had sex with her brother. If there was anything left in her she would vomit again. But there isn’t anything left. No bile, no acid, and absolutely nothing of the little girl who used to eat entire tubes of toothpaste. Somewhere something went wrong with her and she, she doesn’t know where it was. Because a normal person, a healthy person, doesn’t sleep with their brother. It doesn’t matter that this isn’t the Dipper she grew up with, it doesn't matter if this isn’t even the reality she belongs in, there are no excuses.

She mops her sleeve across her mouth and then just shucks the entire stained sweater into the corner of the room and shakily makes it back to her feet. It’s a lot harder than it should be with her entire body shuddering under the force of her sobs. She doesn’t even have the excuse of saying this was just one small lapse in judgement because she knows that she’s been building up to this point. She knew that somehow all of the blood and death was going to catch up with her and hurt her and the people she loves but she--

Mabel has to lean against the doorway as her next thought pounds against her skull. Pacifica. Oh god, oh god, she cheated on Pacifica. Oh god, she’s ruined everything. She’s ruined everything. She’s so selfish. She knew that she was going to end up hurting Pacifica, she knew that Pacifica would have been better off leaving her a long time ago, but no. She had been too selfish and had done everything in her power to hang onto the other girl. They were supposed to be getting married and she had just slept with her brother. Her legs can’t hold her up anymore and she slides back to the floor and wraps her arms around her head as she curls into herself. She doesn’t deserve her. She doesn’t deserve her, or her friends, or her brother, or her grunkles. She doesn’t deserve the life she’s built for herself on fairy wings, and deer blood, and gnome skulls.

“M-Mable?” No, no, no, no. She doesn’t want to see him. She doesn’t want this little shard of remembrance personified here right now. Bill Cipher was probably the only thing in her life that turned out just as horribly as it ought to have. She doesn’t want him here. “Mabel…” She doesn’t want to remember how much his betrayal had hurt her. She doesn’t want to remember how she’d shoved that onto the backburner to take care of Dipper. She doesn’t want to feel his tongue in her hand or the way his glow felt softer when she had done something to make him proud. “...Shooting Star, it’s not your fault.”

Her sobs gradually shift into loud wild laughter as tears continue to stream down her face. Because yes it is. Of course it’s her fault. All of this has been her fault and she wishes someone would finally give her the blame she’s earned so she can stop pretending that she didn’t turn into a monster the exact same moment she hack off her hair with fabric shears.

* * *

 

“Guys, go home. I can handle her.” Dipper sounds about as confident as he feels and that alone makes the three women look at him incredulously. “Seriously, I can handle this.”

“Dipper, she’s out of her head.”

“We knew she was going through withdrawls, I should have been better prepared, “ he admits. “But I can calm her down. Probably. Wendy can I have that sedative? Just in case?”

“Yeah, but dude, I don’t think this is safe.”

“I’m the only one who can shield against her magic if she comes after me.” Besides he doesn’t want them to see Mabel like this. Hell, he doesn’t want to see Mabel like this. But he couldn’t stand it if they looked at his sister differently when she comes back after seeing this.

“Okay. Be careful.” Candy finally says, helping Grenda stay on her feet. The feel of corpses pressed up against their legs has lessened but they’re all still a little ill.

“I will be. Drive safe.”

“Call us when you get back to the Shack so we know you made it back alright. If you don’t call in like an hour, we’re getting the cavalry.”

“Okay, Wendy.” She hugs him a little too tightly and he thinks one of them is shaking. It’s actually probably him. He watches them head back to the cars, their steps dragging as they try to wade through a sea of decaying flesh. Then he heads towards the trees Mabel had disappeared behind.

The only reason it’s hard to spot her is because he gets distracted by the viscera splattered against the grass, hanging from the trees, heaped in mounds atop the underbrush, and wow he thought he was a little dizzy before. He doesn’t look at the piles of meat and flesh littering the area for too long, but he can’t really make head or tails of what once might have been heads or tails, or arms or legs.

“Mabel, this, this was unnecessary. We don’t do this.” His voice is way too thin to sound stern.

“This is exactly what I do.” Her cool tone is just as relaxed as it had been earlier and he finally spots her. She’s kneeling besides a large flesh lump with what looks to be a gremloblin lung in her hand. She squishes and kneads it with a soft look of rapture on her features. “I didn’t kill anything important.”

“They didn’t need to be killed.”

“Yes they did. I needed to kill something and they presented me with an opportunity. They had to die.” She finally looks up at him and her eyes are still glowing. “Now hopefully, if you’re any good at what you do, you’ll be able to get me back home before I have to kill again.” Mabel stands up and drops the lung at her feet after giving it a final tender squeeze. It makes a very distinct squishing sound when it thuds against the ground that Dipper wishes he could unhear. “I need a bath.” She needs her head examined.

“Let’s just go back to the Shack.” He grumbles and she follows him silently.

When they make it back to the car Dipper pulls some dark towels out of his trunk, kept for the express purpose of keeping blood off of the upholstery, and lays them down over the passenger seat before he lets Mabel get in. They buckle up and he sits in disturbed angry silence as they drive back in the direction of the Shack. His focus is quickly pulled away from the road when a bloody hand tugs on the collar of his shirt a split second before there’s a mouth on his throat. He almost crashes the car.

“What the hell are you doing?!” He feels the heat burning across his cheeks.

“Cooling down. That kind of outburst always leaves my skin feeling tight.” Dipper probably can’t get any redder in the face without passing out.

“I already told you, that’s not--” The steering wheel turns blue and jerks out of his grip so the car swerves off to the side of the road before the brakes squeal to a stop. He barely gets a chance to register the change before Mabel is grabbing him by the collar and pressing their mouths together. Her teeth find his bottom lip and her bite stops just short of drawing blood before her tongue slithers out sooth the hurt. And he’s been remembering the way she kisses all wrong for days. She shoves her hands into his hair to try and force his head into a better angle, to try and force his shock-slackened face to respond in any way to her. Her nails scrape against his scalp and for a split second his mouth presses back against her’s. And then she’s gone. Her hands withdraw from his hair, she leans back against the seat like she wasn’t just trying to devour his soul a moment ago. Like she didn’t just tear his reality apart by running her hands through his fucking hair.

“No witty one-liner?” He snaps at the steering wheel as he puts the car back into gear and pulls away from the shoulder.

“No need for one, brother dearest.” And damn it if his stomach doesn’t twist when he realizes that he’s once again going to be plagued with thinking about the feel of her lips on his.

* * *

 

Dipper cleans up his papers after Mabel Pines stumbles out of the room. He burns the corpse and heads upstairs to shower. He doesn’t see her when he finally makes his way downstairs after getting dressed. There’s no sign she’s been in the kitchen either so he just cleans away the crusty pancake batter and washes the dishes before he decides to head back to the Author’s bunker. The nerve that Mabel Pines has been pulling on has finally snapped and he can’t bother to feel frustrated with her anymore. This wasn’t exactly how he’d planned on bringing her down to his level but it worked all the same. His sister probably won’t kill him when she finds out. Probably.

Once he’s finished putting the house back in order he snags his keys from the bowl by the door and heads out.

* * *

 

He managed to work in peace for a few hours before Bill is appearing beside him. The demon is pulsing with energy, wavering between his normal blue and a blazing white.

“Didn’t we just have a talk about this?” He asks coolly, though there’s a part of him that is a little glad that the demon’s appeared. “You’d better have a spectacular reason for showing up uncalled.”

“Master,” He’s surprised by the way that Bill’s voice shakes. It’s not the same timid tremble that usually makes his insides twist with anticipation of hurting the creature. This, this is anger. This is rage. Dipper gives his full attention to the demon. “Why did you do that?”

“Since when do you have the gall to question my decisions?”

“She didn’t deserve that, Master.” Bill spits the word at him. His eye is filled with tears but he looks no less furious. It’s only the surprised intrigue that keeps Dipper from grabbing the creature and carving his place in their relationship into his form.

“I don’t recall asking for your input.”

“Pardon me, but I don’t care, Master.” Bill snaps, and there may be a tear or two trickling out of his eye. “She didn’t deserve to be treated like that. She might not be your sister, but I almost can’t believe you would hurt any Mabel like that so intentionally.” Dipper does not flinch but it’s a close thing.

“I didn’t hurt her. I just made her realize exactly what she is.”

“And what is she?” The demon shouts, flames flaring up around his body. “She’s everything you and your sister could have been if things had been better! If I had been--!” Bill’s crying is more persistent now and he sniffles with no nose as he tries to wipe away the tears.

“You’re acting like I--” the word catches in his throat. But no. He hadn’t done anything against her will. She had pulled him closer, she had kissed him back, she hadn’t told him to stop. “We’re adults. What happened was perfectly consensual.” He takes a breath and stands so he can glare down at the demon. “I didn’t ask for your input, Bill.”

“No you didn’t. I’m expected to stand at your side and let you do whatever you wish.” The demon hisses and it’s the first time since he’s knows the creature that he hears that resentment in his tone. No matter what he or his sister had done to the demon in the past, he’s never heard the resentment of being caged in the demon’s voice. It makes that little shred of decency in the back of his mind ache. “But this is too far, Dipper.” He does flinch back now. He’s never heard the demon speak his name so plainly.

“What’s wrong with you?” He snaps back. “After everything that you’ve seen us, that you’ve seen me do? Why suddenly get cold feet now, Cipher? This is nothing.”

“Because you don’t even realize how many people you’ve hurt!”

“I’ve hurt more people in my life than most people have Facebook friends! You’ve never cared before!” He shouldn’t be letting the demon rile him up. The bunker is starting to shake under the weight of their magic. If they keep fighting like this then they’ll cause a cave-in. That thought doesn’t rein him in at all.

“I thought I could help you! I thought that you needed me!” He doesn’t. He does. He doesn’t know what he needs anymore.

“What are you talking about? Are you jealous, Bill?!” He’s not quite sure why he asks that question of all things to ask. But it strikes a chord in them both because suddenly they get very quiet. Bill’s glow dims until it’s just a shadow of his usual blue and he’s still trembling. Tears are still leaking out of his eye as he stares back at the human. Dipper almost says something. Almost says the demon’s name, almost presses further because this is new. This is something that he doesn’t understand, this is a mystery he didn’t even realize needs to be solved. But Bill just squeezes his eye tight and blinks out of existence. And Dipper is left trying to carve the seeds of guilt out of his gut that the demon had planted.

* * *

 

When he and Mabel finally make it back to the Shack, Dipper’s head is still spinning. She doesn’t seem to be phased as she gets out of the car and heads inside, but he just sits there for a long time, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles go white. For a minute he wishes that he could hear Bill laughing at him and telling him whatever he needs to hear to feel less unbalanced. And for a minute he doesn’t even feel bad about missing the demon. Then he grabs his phone and texts Wendy that he’s made it too the Shack in one piece before calling Pacifica.

“Is there something wrong with Mabel?” Pacifica answers on the first ring and he feels a little guilty that was her first reaction to seeing his number on her caller ID.

“I haven’t heard from her, I just,” He swallows hard and presses his free hand tight over his eyes. “I need to talk to someone. Can I come over?” There’s a beat of silence just long enough for him to start feeling even worse about laying this all on her.

“Yeah, Dipper, come over. Are you okay?”

“No, not really.”

“Come over.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

 

Mabel and Pacifica’s apartment is well decorated and colorful, despite its modern furnishing. He can see touches of his sister everywhere and can even still smell her shampoo in the air. It simultaneously makes him feel better and worse as Pacifica waits for him to talk.

“She hates you because she thinks she and I should be together. Or that Mabel and I should be. She, she doesn’t care that we’re siblings.” The rest of whatever he’d been about to say is caught in his throat. He shouldn’t be telling Pacifica this of all people. He has no right to throw this on her.

“I already figured that out, Dipper.” His head jerks up so he can look at her.

“What?”

“I think Wendy has too.” She shrugs too fluidly for it not to be an act. “I know that look Mabel gets.”

“I don’t know what to do.” There’s relief in just being given the small mercy of not having to explain it. “She’s kissed me, she keeps kissing me.” And I’ve kissed her back, not once, but twice. He doesn’t say it but the thought seems to be loud enough for Pacifica to hear and she shifts uncomfortably.

“She is a pretty amazing kisser.” She rubs her thumb against the underside of her engagement band. “Dipper, this is all complicated. I can’t really uncomplicate it for you. I know she’s not your sister but she is, and she’s not my girlfriend but she is, and it’s just complicated.”

“She makes me so angry.” And disgusted, and bitter, and so, so guilty for associating those feelings with someone who shares his sister’s face. “Because she hasn’t gone through any of it. She doesn’t have any excuse, she doesn’t have any reason to be like this, but she is.” And it makes him wonder if he and his sister were always going to turn out soaked in blood, even if they weren’t saying they did it all for their family.

“Like I said: complicated.” Pacifica agrees. “But you’re more worried about the incest at the moment, right?” He fumbles after his tongue but eventually just nods. “I don’t know what you want me to say. You can’t change how she sees her brother, and by extension how she sees you. And if you’re… feeling something else for her… I’m not going to tell you that that’s alright because we both know it isn’t.” And he doesn’t think he is feeling anything towards her, nothing tender, nothing loving, but there’s something else which is so much worse. But he knows he never looked at Mabel like this, that the thought of doing so makes his gut go sour. But here he is anyway.

“I just don’t know how to handle this.” He admits softly.

“I don’t think you have too. This is a lot, Dipper, even for you. Just, just try to get through it one step at a time, alright?”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks Pacifica.” They sit together for a few minutes in silence.

“You might want to clean up a bit too. You have blood and lipstick on your mouth and neck, by the way.”

“Oh. Thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah, why don’t you stay for dinner and give yourself some time to cool off. I need to run some things by you for the wedding.”

“I almost wish I could go back and be nicer to you when we were growing up.” He admits honestly.

“I don’t. I definitely needed to be brought down a peg or two back then. Besides you and Mabel were too good for twelve year old me.”

“And what about now?”

“You two are still too good for your own well-being, even if you don’t believe it anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to finish this series, but the next chapter will probably be similar in length so it will again take me some time to work on. Please be patient with me and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> The next two chapters will also be quite long so my updating won't be as speedy as usual coupled with the fact that being at home actually gives me less time to write than I had a school so I ask for your patients. Thank you for the new and continued support that I have received in working on this series!


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